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THE 

SCHOOL COURSE 

IN ENGLISH 



ALLEN and HAWKINS 



BOOK TWO 



A GRAMMAR OF THE h\< }L1SH I \NG! V,l 




Class ' - \lii- 

Book. , M7# 






Copyright^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Wqz School Course in GFngltefj 
Book II 



A GRAMMAR OF THE 
ENGLISH LANGUAGE 

WITH EXERCISES 
IN COMPOSITION 

BY 

EDWARD A. ALLEN 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 

IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI 

AND 

WILLIAM J. HAWKINS 

PRINCIPAL OF COLUMBIA SCHOOL, ST. LOUIS 



REVISED EDITION 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 

D. C HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

1905 






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LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
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MAR 30 i905 

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Copyright, 1903 and 1905, 
By D. C. Heath & Co. 



PREFACE 

This book is an attempt to present the essentials of 
English grammar in a form suitable for instruction in the 
schools as they are to-day. Much of the usual rubbish 
has been omitted, but no vital principle of grammar has 
been intentionally slighted. No attempt is made to* tell 
everything ; the class is supposed to have a teacher, and 
in the exercises will be found abundant material for elabo- 
ration. In the matter of definitions, it is hoped that much 
has been simplified, nothing overdone. The best peda- 
gogy is coming more and more into accord with Matthew 
Arnold's doctrine, that, if you wish the pupils to know 
what an apple is, the best way is to show them an apple 
rather than try to give a definition of it after the manner 
of the books : " An apple has a stalk, peel, pulp, core, 
pips, and juice; it is odorous and opaque, and is used for 
making a pleasant'drink called cider." 
' The illustrations of analysis are designed to be sugges- 
tive rather than to serve as models. The teacher will 
doubtless prefer to begin with simpler examples, and wftl 
use the method that seems best adapted to the needs of 
the class. As an intellectual exercise, oral analysis, it is 
believed, will yield the best results ; for written exercises 



IV 



Preface 



in analysis, if required at all, only the simplest devices 
should be employed, such as underlining. 

In this revised edition, in accordance with the sugges- 
tions of many teachers, constructive exercises have been 
added. All Exercises have been made as simple as pos- 
sible, but under Reviews the examples, for the sake of 
variety, range from the simple to the complex, from the 
easy to the more difficult. The expert teacher will select 
such as are adapted to the attainments of the pupils. 

To meet the requirements for composition work, a Part 
on Composition also has been added. It provides exer- 
cises in invention, oral and written, accompanied with 
drill in sentence and paragraph formation, punctuation, 
and letter-writing. 

There is no need to call attention to special features of 
the book. Whatever good points it may have, teachers 
who examine it will discover for themselves. Intelligent 
criticism will always be welcome. 



CONTENTS 



PART I 
SENTENCES 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Sentences. . . . . ■ 1-3 

II. Simple Sentences 4-15 

III. Complex Sentences ........ 16-23 

IV. Compound Sentences 24-25 

V. Sentence Analysis 26-32 



PART II 

PARTS OF SPEECH 

VI. Parts of Speech 33~34 

VII. Inflection 35 

VIII. Nouns 36-50 

Classification, 36-38 ; Gender, 38-40 ; Number, 40-44 ; 
Case, 45-49 ; Review, 50. 

IX. Pronouns 51-63 

Personal Pronouns, 51-53 ; Compound Personal Pronouns, 
53-54; Interrogative Pronouns, 55-56; Relative Pronouns, 
56-60 ; Demonstrative Pronouns, 61 ; Indefinite and Recip- 
rocal Pronouns, 61-62 ; Review, 63. 

X. Adjectives 64-70 

Classification, 64; Numeral Adjectives, 64; Pronominal Ad- 
jectives, 64-65 ; Articles, 66 ; Comparison, 67-69 ; Review, 
69-70. 

XL Verbs 71-100 

Transitive and Intransitive, 71-75 ; Mood, 76-77; Tense, 
77-80 ; Person and Number, 80-81 ; Infinitive, 81 ; Parti- 
ciples, 82 ; Conjugation, 83-89 ; Strong and Weak Verbs, 
90-96 ; Defective Verbs, 96-97 ; Impersonal Verbs, 97 ; 
Auxiliaries, 97-98 ; Review, 99-100. 
v 



vi Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XII. Adverbs 101-105 

Classification, 101 ; Pronominal Adverbs, 102 ; Compari- 
son, 103-104; Review, 104-105. 

XIII. Prepositions 106-108 

XIV. Conjunctions 109-111 

XV. Interjections 112 

PART III 

SYNTAX 

XVI. Syntax 1 13-154 

Case Relations: Nominative, 114-116; Possessive, 116- 
117; Objective, 1 17-120; Review, 120-122 — Syntax of 
Adjectives, 122-124 — Concord: Of Pronoun with Ante- 
cedent, 125-126; Of Subject with Predicate, 126-129 — 
Present and Present Perfect Tenses, 129 — Subjunctive 
Mood: In Principal Sentences, 1 30-13 1 ; In Clauses, 131- 
132 — Modal Auxiliaries, 134-137 ; Conditional Propositions, 
137-138; Shall and Will, 139 — Infinitive, 140-145 — 
Verbal Nouns, 145-146; Participles, 146-150 — General 
Review, 1 51-154. 

PART IV 

COMPOSITION 

I. Sentences 155-172 

II. Letters 173-201 

Business Letters, 1 73-1 85 ; Familiar Letters, 186-188 
Shall and Will, 188-189 ; Formal Invitations, 189-192 
Rules for Punctuation at the End of the Sentence, 192-194 
Rules for Quotation, 194-197; Words often Misused, 197— 
198. 

III. Paragraphs 202-233 

Use of Punctuation Marks, 224-233 ; Comma, 225-227 ; 
Semicolon, 228-229 ; Period, 229 ; Question Mark, 229 ; 
Exclamation Mark, 229 ; Colon, 229-230 ; Dash, 230-231 ; 
Marks of Parenthesis, 231 ; Brackets, 231 ; Quotation Marks, 
231 ; Italics, 232 ; Hyphen, 232 ; Apostrophe, 232-233 ; 
Capital Letters, 233. 

APPENDIX 
Cautions . . 234-236 



A GRAMMAR OF THE 
ENGLISH LANGUAGE 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR 



>>©<< 



PART I 
CHAPTER I 

SENTENCES 

1. Whenever we say anything, or ask a question, or give 
an order, or express a wish or a feeling, the words by means 
of which we do so make a sentence. "John has learned 
his lesson," " When will he return ? " " Send me three 
loaves of bread," "Long live the king!" "How sweet 
the moonlight sleeps upon this bank ! " are sentences. 

A group of words expressing a complete thought is a 
sentence. 

2. According as a sentence makes a statement, asks a 
question, gives a command, or expresses emotion, it is called 
Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, or Exclamatory : — 

Declarative : John has learned his lesson. 
Interrogative : When will he return ? 
Imperative : Send me three loaves of bread. 
Exclamatory : How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! 

i 



English Grammar 



EXERCISE 1 

Tell of what kind is each of the following sentences : — 

i. There are three books on the desk. 

2. The bottle is full of ink. 

3. Hang your hat in the hall. 

4. Have you found your pencil ? 

5. George Washington was our first President. 

6. Who is President now ? 

7. Dewey captured Manila. 

8. O mists, make room for me ! 

9. Whom did the man ask for ? 

10. Cease, traitor ! God's temple is the house of peace ! 

1 1 . How much is thy gain in a day ? 

12. Piper, sit thee down and write in a book, that all may read. 

EXERCISE 2 

Tell the kinds of sentences in each of the following 
selections : — 

1 . Then he ran to her and laid 

His head upon her arm, 
As if he said, " I'm not afraid, 
You'll keep me from all harm." 

2. Lift your leafy roof for me, 

Part your yielding walls ; 
Let me wander lingeringly 
Through your scented halls. 

3. You think my questions are trifling, dear ? 

Let me ask you another one : 

Can a hasty word be ever unsaid 

Or an unkind deed undone ? 

4. When can their glory fade ? 
O the wild charge they made ! 

All the world wondered. 
Honor the charge they made ! 
Honor the Light Brigade, 

Noble Six Hundred ! 



Sentences 3 

5. My father lived at Blenheim then, 

Yon little stream hard by ; 
They burnt his dwelling to the ground, 

And he was forced to fly ; 
So with his wife and child he fled, 
Nor had he where to rest his head. 

EXERCISE 3 

1. Write two declarative sentences about important events. 

2. Write two interrogative sentences about noted men. 

3. Write two imperative sentences that command the discharge of 
duty. 

4. Write two exclamatory sentences, the first to indicate very great 
pleasure, and the second, great surprise. 

3. Sentences are also classified according to their con- 
struction, as Simple, Complex, and Compound. 



CHAPTER II 

SIMPLE SENTENCES 

4. Every sentence is made up of two parts, called the 
Subject and the Predicate. 

In " John has learned his lessson," _/<?^;z is the subject — that of which 
something is said ; and has learned his lesson is the predicate — that 
which is said of John. 

In " When will he return ? 11 he is the subject and when will . . . 
return the predicate. 

In " Long live the king !" the king is the subject, and long live the 
predicate. 

In the sentence, " How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank ! " 
the moonlight is the subject, and how sweet . . . sleeps upon this bank 
the predicate. 

In the sentence, " Send me three loaves of bread," — and regularly 
in imperative sentences, — the subject is not expressed, being sufficiently 
understood. It is always the person we are speaking to. The predicate 
is send me three loaves of bread — that which we ask the person ad- 
dressed to do. 

5. Position of the Subject. — The subject does not always 
come first. In interrogative sentences the predicate usu- 
ally comes before the subject, and in many other sentences 
the subject is placed at, or near, the close of the sentence. 

The following sentences are examples of the different 
positions of the subject. The subject of each sentence is 
printed in italics. 

Has the bell rung ? 
There came a man on horseback. 
Up went all the hats. 
One boy he praised, another he blamed. 
Into the valley of death rode the Six Hundred. 
4 



Simple Sentences 5 

6. Sentences that have but one subject and one predi- 
cate are called Simple Sentences. 

EXERCISE 4 

Write two original simple declarative sentences, and in- 
dicate the subject and predicate of each by underscoring 
the subject with two lines and the predicate with one line ; 
two interrogative sentences, and indicate subject and predi- 
cate in the same way ; two imperative sentences, and two 
exclamatory sentences. 

EXERCISE 5 

Point out the subject and the predicate in each of the 
following sentences : — ■ 

1. Brutus stabbed Csesar. 

2. Alaska is a cold country. 

3. Have you seen Alice to-day? 

4. Slowly and sadly we laid him down. 

5. Gray hairs are honorable. 

6. Each horseman drew his battle blade. 

7. Down went the trusted leader. 

8. Great is your reward in heaven. 

9. One good turn deserves another. 

10. Play that tune again. 

1 1 . Why does he loiter here ? 

12. How calmly the midnight moon ascends! 

13. Ill weeds grow apace. 

14. No harm come nigh thee! 

15. What reason did he give for his absence? 

16. The spirits of your fathers shall start from every wave. 

17. Three years she grew in sun and shower. 

18. Raise the flag at sunrise. 

19. May the thought of those happier days cheer you in your lonely 
home! 

20. The birds have gone to sleep. 



6 English Grammar 

21. The way was long, the wind was cold, > 
The minstrel was infirm and old. 

22. The sun now rose upon the right, 
Out of the sea came he. 

23. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, 
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, 
And leaves the world to darkness and to me. 

24. Beneath the spreading chestnut tree 

The village smithy stands ; 
The smith, a mighty man is he 

With large and sinewy hands ; 
And the muscles of his brawny arms 

Are strong as iron bands. 

7. Compound Subjects. — Very often, in simple sentences, 
two or more connected subjects are used with one predi- 
cate, as : — 

John and James were absent yesterday. 

My brother and sister have gone to the country. 

Two or more connected subjects that have the same 
predicate form a Compound Subject. 

8. Compound Predicates. — Very often, in simple sen- 
tences, one subject has two or more connected predi- 
cates, as : — 

The speaker then bowed and took his seat. 

The lad hung his head and wept bitterly. 

I awoke early 1 dressed hastily, and went down to breakfast. 

Two or more connected predicates that have the same 
subject form a Compound Predicate. 

9. The same sentence may have both a compound sub- 
ject and a compound predicate, as : — 

The husband and wife stood near the door and received their guests. 



Simple Sentences 7 

EXERCISE 6 

Write two original sentences that have compound sub- 
jects ; two that have compound predicates; and two that 
have both compound subjects and compound predicates. 

EXERCISE 7 

Copy the following sentences into four groups : — 

(i) Simple subjects and simple predicates. 

(2) Compound subjects and simple predicates. 

(3) Simple subjects and compound predicates. 

(4) Compound subjects and compound predicates. 

1. The sun shines. 

2. Two cows were killed. 

3. Jack and Jill went up the hill. 

4. The children came and gathered the berries. 

5. I am not acquainted with him. 

6. He and I saw him and ran. 

7. They were not there. 

8. Old and young were satisfied. 

9. Charity suffereth long and is kind. 

10. James and John left their nets and followed Him. 

11. Rain, snow, and hail fell that day. 

12. Her steps were not heard. 

13. Which of the men came first ? 

14. Were Mary and Lucy there. ? 

15. I will go and return with him. 

16. They came and went. 

17. Several boys did not go. 

18. The calves were not all sold. 

19. John, the oldest son, was not there. 

20. Who will come and go ? 

21. But the old three-cornered hat, 
And the breeches, and all that, 

Are so queer. 



8 English Grammar 

22. Tell me, sunny goldenrod, 

Growing everywhere. 
Did fairies come from fairyland 
And make the dress you wear ? 

23. Can you put the lily cup back on the stem, 

And cause it again to grow ? 
Can you mend the butterfly's broken wing 
That you crushed with a hasty blow ? 

24. Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep, 

And cannot tell where to find them ; 
Leave them alone, and they'll come home. 
And bring their tails behind them. 

10. A Phrase is a group of words without subject or 
predicate that does the work of a single part of speech. 
Thus, in the sentence, " He is a man of honor," of honor is 
a phrase, for it does the work of the adjective honorable. 
In the sentence, " The man acted in haste," in haste is a 
phrase, and does the work of the adverb hastily. In the 
sentence, "To be with him was a pleasure," to be with him 
is a phrase that does the work of a noun and is the subject 
of was a pleasure. 

11. According as they do the work of adjectives, adverbs, 
or nouns, phrases are classified as Adjective Phrases, 
Adverb Phrases, or Noun Phrases. 

EXERCISE 8 

In the following sentences, point out the phrases and 
tell whether they are adjective phrases, adverb phrases, or 
noun phrases : — 

1. He had a coat of many colors. 

2. There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. 

3. The capture of Manila was unexpected. 



Simple Sentences 

4. The house of the seven gables stands in a large yard. 

5. To hear him weep cuts me to the heart. 

6. The sun set behind a hill. 

7. George has written a letter of five pages to his sister. 

8. I met him coming from school. 

9. Washington was the father of his country. 
10. Giving others advice is easy. 

n. The men of Athens were idle at noontime. 

12. The bird was perched on the limb of a tree. 

13. Playing with books is not studying. 

14. The railroad runs through our farm. 

15. She dwelt among the untrodden ways 

Beside the Springs of Dove. 

16. And neither the angels in heaven above, 

Nor the demons down under the sea, 
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. 

17. I stood on the bridge at midnight, 

The clocks were striking the hour, 
And the moon rose o'er the city, 
Behind the dark church tower. 



EXERCISE 9 
Construct sentences containing phrases as follows : — 

1. Three declarative sentences that contain adjective phrases. 

2. Three interrogative sentences that contain both adjective and 
adverb phrases. 

3. Three imperative sentences that contain adverb phrases. 

4. Three sentences that have noun phrases used as subjects. 

5. Copy from a reader, or from literature, two of each kind of sen- 
tences. 

12. Simple and Complete Subjects. — The subject is 
sometimes a single word, as in " Clouds arose." But it 
may contain several words, as in "Black, threatening clouds 



io English Grammar 

arose." In such cases the principal word, generally a 
noun or pronoun, is called the Simple Subject; the other 
words, modifying a simple subject, are called Adjuncts of 
the subject, and the whole made up of the simple subject 
and its adjuncts is called the Complete Subject of the 
sentence. 

The adjuncts of the subject may be : — 

(a) Adjectives. 

(b) Nouns used as explanatory (in apposition) or in the possessive 
case. 

(c) Adjective phrases. 

EXERCISE 10 

Point out the complete subjects, the simple subjects, and 
the adjuncts of the simple subjects. Classify the adjuncts 
as adjectives, nouns, or adjective phrases : — 

i. Good citizens prefer the welfare of their country to the success of 
their party. 

2. A fearful storm arose. 

3. John, the gardener, is sick. 

4. The rules of the game are strictly observed. 

5. Tom's father has returned. 

6. Captain Parker, a tall, lean man, commanded the second com- 
pany. 

7. This old air, sung by a hundred fresh young voices, was well 
worth hearing. 

8. The time for action is at hand. 

9. Washington, our first President, was a surveyor in his early life. 

10. Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn. 

1 1 . The slowly waning moon appears. 

12. The victory of our team is now assured. 

13. Captain Kidd, the famous pirate, was the terror of all merchant- 
men. 

14. Water fit to drink was not to be had. 

15. A march of twenty days through dense forests and poisonous 
swamps brought us at last to the sea-coast. 



Simple Sentences II 

13. Under noun subjects are included : — 

(i) Phrases: — 

(a) Out of sight is out of mind. 

(b) To live dishonored is a fearful fate. 

(f) Digging for hidden gold makes few men rich. 

(2) Adjectives used as nouns: — 

The richest are not always the happiest. 

(3) Adverbs of time and place: — 

To-morrow will be Sunday. 

(4) Any part of speech, when made the subject of dis- 
course : — 

/is a personal pronoun. Light is an adjective in that sentence. 

EXERCISE 11 

Write three sentences with phrases used as subjects ; 
three having for subjects adjectives used as nouns; four 
in which the subjects are adverbs of time and place, used 
as nouns. 

EXERCISE 12 

Point out the subjects in the following sentences, and 
tell whether they are words or phrases : — 

1. I am on my way to school. 

2. Where are you going? 

3. The coming of the men was not observed. 

4. There were few scholars present. 

5. To-day is your birthday. 

6. To see is to believe. 

7. Seeing is believing. 

8. Your coming has made me happy. 

9. When is a relative adverb. 



12 English Grammar 

10. To give money is not enough. 

1 1 . Let him come in. 

12. To err is human. 

14. It and There. — The pronoun it and the adverb 
there are often used at the beginning of a sentence as in- 
troductory words when it is desired to place the subject 
after the verb. 

In the sentence, " It is easy to answer that question," the subject is 
to answer that question, and the predicate is is easy. In the sentence, 
"It was settled that James should go," the subject is that James shotild 
go and the predicate is was settled. In these sentences it is used as an 
introductory word, and may be said to represent the subject. 

The subject of any sentence is the answer to the question formed by 
placing who or what before the predicate. In the first sentence, to the 
question, "what is easy?" the answer is not it, but to answer that 
question. Likewise, in the second sentence the answer to " what was 
settled?" is that James should go. In such sentences the term expletive 
is commonly applied to it. 

The adverb there is also used as an introductory word, and in such 
sentences it is an expletive, as : " There are three men here." " There 
was no hope for him." 

EXERCISE 13 

Point out the subjects and predicates in the following 
sentences : — 

i. It is sure to rain. 

2. It is not good to be alone. 

3. It was his intention to come. 

4. It is a crime to receive stolen goods. 

5 . It was easy to establish the truth of the proposition. 

6. There were three boys there. 

7. There was no one else there. 

8. There is now no room for hope. 

9. There is one mightier than he. 

10. There is come a burst of thunder sound. 

1 1 . There will be a day of reckoning. 



Simple Sentences 13 

EXERCISE 14 

Point out the complete subject, the simple subject, 
and the adjuncts of the simple subject in the following 
sentences : — 

1 . To be weak is to be miserable. 

2. Seeing is believing. 

3. To see is to believe. 

4. Your coming has made us happy. 

5. Making hay is hard work. 

6. To hear him weep cuts me to the heart. 

7. The richest are not always the most generous. 

8. Yesterday was my birthday. 

9. The king's refusal to grant the petition caused a revolution. 

10. There came a man on horseback to the gate. 

11. It is hard work rowing against the stream. 

12. It is my duty to remind him. 

13. There was heard a noise of weeping in the house. 

14. The house on the hill belongs to Mr. Miller. 

15. Men of great wealth may not be men of great usefulness. 

15. Simple and Complete Predicates. — The predicate is 
that which is said of the subject. It is, therefore, an 
essential part of any sentence. There can be no sen- 
tence without a predicate. Cartilage is not a sentence, 
for though it names a city, it tells us nothing about that 
city. Nor is the destruction of Carthage a sentence. It is 
only a noun with modifiers, of which nothing is yet said. 
But Carthage was destroyed is a sentence, and so is The 
destruction of Carthage removed the last great rival of 
Rome, for in the first something is said of "Carthage," 
and in the second something is said of " the destruction of 
Carthage." 

16. To any complete predication a Finite Verb is essen- 
tial. The finite verb is called the Simple Predicate. The 



14 English Grammar 

Complete Predicate includes all that is said of the subject ; 
it may be identical with the simple predicate, it may be an 
enlargement of the simple predicate. Thus, in the sen- 
tence, " Ice melts," melts is the predicate ; in " Ice melts 
rapidly in the sun," melts is the simple predicate, the 
adverb rapidly and the adverbial phrase in the sun are 
adjuncts of the simple predicate, and melts rapidly in the 
sun is the complete predicate — all that is said of ice in 
the sentence. 

17. The simple predicate may be enlarged by : — 

1. Direct Object : The frost killed the flowers. 

2. Indirect Object : He gave each man his share. 

3. Predicate Noun or Pronoun : Longfellow was a poet. This is he. 

4. Predicate Adjective : Cherries are ripe. 

5. Objective Complement (noun or adjective): They made Tom 
captain. He sawed the sticks too short. 

6. Adverb : Mary sews well. 

7. Nouns denoting time, space, measure, and other adverbial re- 
lations : It weighs ten pounds. He left Saturday. The famine lasted 
ten years. They walked five miles. 

8. Complementary Phrase : They were obliged to return. 

9. Adverb Phrase : I met him at the post-office. 

10. Phrases used as Predicate Adjectives : He was in excellent health. 
He was well off. 

Note. — The various parts of speech that may be used as subjects 
(see 13), may also be used as objects, and with the same modifiers. 

EXERCISE 15 

Point out the complete predicate, the simple predicate, 
and the adjuncts of the simple predicate : — 

1. George has given Alfred six of his marbles. 

2. What reason did he give for being late ? 

3. It is I. 

4. Open the door. 



Simple Sentences 15 

5. The children will soon be ready. 

6. It was a famous victory. 

7. Alfred the Great defended his kingdom against the Danes. 

8. The child was called John. 

9. The washerwoman wrung the clothes dry. 

10. Lucy plays tolerably well. 

1 1 . The armies of Rome made Carthage a ruin. 

12. Thompson was elected captain of the team. 

13. The snake measured five feet. 

14. The class was told to take the lesson over again. 

15. I met the sheriff on my way home. 

16. They were in a great hurry. 

17. The highwayman became the terror of the countryside. 

18. Learn to eat slowly. 

19. He is coming to take tea here Thursday evening. 

20. I have no time to do your sums for you. 

21. After trying in vain to make a living in business, he became a 
tramp. 

22. Security is mortals 1 chiefest enemy. 

23. Be on your guard. 

24. He got strong in a few weeks. 

25. My brother was twelve years old last month. 

26. Some books help us to understand ourselves. 

27. Duncan is in his grave. 

28. After life's fitful fever he sleeps well. 

29. Tom stood at the door, with a broad-brimmed hat perched on the 
back of his head. 

30. I have lived here thirty years. 

EXERCISE 16 
Construct sentences with complete predicates as fol- 
lows : — 

1 . Two with predicate nouns. 

2. Two with indirect objects. 

3. Two with compiemeiitary phrases. 

4. Two with adverb phrases. 

5. Two with phrases used as predicate adjectives. 

6. Copy from a reader, or from literature, one sentence of each kind. 



CHAPTER III 
COMPLEX SENTENCES 

18. A Clause is a group of words containing a subject 
and a predicate, and used in the sentence with the value 
of a single part of speech. 

Thus, in the sentence, " I know that you are right," you are right is a 
clause. It is made up of the subject you and the predicate are right ; 
and it is used as the object of the verb know, that is, as a noun. 

19. A clause is distinguished from a phrase by the fact 
that it contains a subject and predicate like a sentence, 
which a phrase does not. It is distinguished from a sen- 
tence by its use, which is always that of some part of 
speech in the sentence. 

20. The same words may be in, one place a sentence, 
as in " You are right," used alone, and in another place a 
clause, as in the illustration given above, where the same 
words constitute a clause, because they are used with 
the value of a single part of speech. The clause here 
is marked as such by the conjunction that, which is fre- 
quently omitted. 

21. A sentence containing a clause or clauses is called a 
Complex Sentence. 

2.2* A clause may be used 

I. As a Noun : — 

That you have wronged me doth appear in this. 
16 



Complex Sentences 17 

2. As an Adjective : — 

The house in which we used to live has been sold. 

3. As an Adverb : — 

I will come when I finish my work. 

Clauses, therefore, are of three kinds : — 

Noun Clauses, 
Adjective Clauses, 
Adverb Clauses. 

23. Noun Clauses. — Most of the functions of the noun 
may be performed by clauses. 
A clause may be 

1 . Subject : — 

What he says makes no difference. 

2. Object of a verb : — 

He promised that he would be on time. 

3. Object of a preposition : — 

Tell us about what you saw at the circus. 

4. In predicate construction (predicate noun) : — 

The plan agreed upon was that each should pay half. 

5. In apposition (explanatory); — 

He remembered the proverb, It never rains but it pours. 

EXERCISE 17 

Point out the noun clauses and tell how each is used : — 

1 . We hope that you will be successful. 

2. That the money is lost is certain. 

3. Things are not what they seem. 

4. I know not what course others will take. 



1 8 English Grammar 

5. John came after the bell rang. 

6. We relied on what he said. 

7. It is true that he found it. 

8. He said he was ashamed to tell me. 

9. I met a little cottage girl ; 

She was eight years old, she said ; 
Her hair was thick with many a curl 
That clustered round her head. 

10. Doubt thou the stars are fire ; 
Doubt that the sun doth move ; 
Doubt truth to be a liar ; 
But never doubt I love. 



EXERCISE 18 

Write three of each of the following kinds of complex 
sentences : — 

1. With a clause used as a subject. 

2. With a clause used as object of a verb. 

3. With a clause used as object of a preposition. 

4. With a clause used as a predicate noun. 

5. With a clause in apposition. 

Copy from a reader two sentences of each kind. 

24. Adjective Clauses. — Clauses that limit or modify 
nouns or pronouns are called Adjective Clauses. They 
are connected with the nouns or pronouns they modify by 
means of relative pronouns or relative adverbs : — 

He that is not with me is against me. 

The house at which your brother boarded has been sold. 

The cave where he spent the winter was never found by hunters. 

The key you gave me will not open the door. 

Note. — The connective relative is sometimes understood, as in the 



Complex Sentences 19 



EXERCISE 19 

Point out the adjective clauses and tell to what noun or 
pronoun each belongs : — 

1. God helps those who help themselves. 

2. This is the house that Jack built. 

3. This is the spot where Warren fell. 

4. The house he lived in has since been torn down. 

5. The next house you come to is my father's. 

6. The hour at which he will arrive is not known. 

7. A people whom I have not known shall serve me. 

8. That is the man whose child you befriended. 

9. This hermit good lives in that wood, 

Which slopes down to the sea. 

10. We played that we were gypsies, 
Who never sleep in beds, 
But lie beside their fires, 
With stars above their heads. 



EXERCISE 20 

Write original sentences that contain adjective clauses, 
as follows : — 

1 . Two sentences that contain adjective clauses joined to nouns by 
relative pronouns. 

2. Two sentences that contain adjective clauses joined to pronouns 
by a relative pronoun. 

3. One sentence that contains an adjective clause joined to the noun 
by a relative adverb. 

4. Three sentences that contain adjective clauses in which the rela- 
tive is understood. 

25. Adverb Clauses. — When a clause restricts or other- 
wise modifies the predicate of a sentence, it is called an 
Adverb Clause. It may modify the predicate by indicating 



20 English Grammar 

i . Time : — 

We saw strange sights when we were in the city. 
I will wait here till you come. 

2. Place: — 

My dog follows me wherever I go. 

They crossed where the water was shallow. 

3. Manner: — 

As the twig is bent the tree is inclined. 
He walks as if he were lame. 

4. Degree of Comparison : — 

The more some men have, the more they want. 
He is not so gruff as I expected to find him. 
He behaved better than he did last time. 

5. Cause or Reason : — 

He came becaitse you sent for him. 

As he had no other way of making a living, he became a hunter. 

6. Purpose : — 

Judge not, that ye be not judged. 
Be careful, lest they deceive you. 

7. Result : — 

He is so lame that he can hardly walk. 

He is such a braggart that no one pays any attention to him. 

8. Condition : — 

If it rains to-morrow, I shall not go. 

You will not pass unless you do better work. 

9. Concession : — - 

Though every one admired him, few loved him. 



Complex Sentences ai 

26. Clauses modifying Adjectives. — After certain adjec- 
tives, such as glad, sorry, sure, afraid, certain, adverb clauses 
are used to complete the meaning. 

I am glad that he won. 

Note. — These adjectives are construed : i. With a complementary 
clause, as in the example given above. 2. With a complementary 
phrase, as in "I am glad to see you" 3. With a prepositional phrase, 
as in " I am glad of it" " He is sorry for what he has done" 

EXERCISE 21 

Point out and classify the adverb clauses in the fol- 
lowing : — 

1. Do not fail to call on him after you return. 

2. Come this evening if you have time. 

3. The men were so demoralized that the colonel could not rally 
them. 

4. When thieves fall out, honest men come by their rights. 

5. As I was crossing the street, I saw Brown. 

6. As is the priest, so are the people. 

7. Come when you are called. 

8. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. 

9. The new law was posted at all the street corners that every one 
might read it. 

10. Go where duty calls thee. 

11. He was taken to a warmer climate, as the doctor said that was 
the only hope of saving his life. 

12. He is as lazy as the day is long. 

13. Since my country calls me, I obey. 

14. He is wiser than he seems. 

15. Let me see you before you leave town. 

16. Make hay while the sun shines. 

17. We are sure that he will come. 

18. I am sorry you lost it. 



22 English Grammar 



EXERCISE 22 

Write original sentences that contain adverb clauses, as 

follows : — 

Two sentences containing clauses that indicate time. 
Two sentences containing clauses that indicate manner. 
Two sentences containing clauses that indicate cause or reason. 
Two sentences containing clauses that indicate condition. 

Copy from the reader one sentence of each kind. 



EXERCISE 23 
Point out and classify all the clauses : — 

i . Unless you write it down, you will forget it. 

2. If you love me, keep my commandments. 

3. We have not seen him since he was here. 

4. I said that knife was yours, but I knew it was mine. 

5 . The lady whom you saw was my sister. 

6. The letter which should have been received yesterday was re- 
ceived to-day. 

7. I slept, and dreamt that life was beauty; 
I woke, and found that life was duty. 

8. The little toy shepherdess looked up 
Where the books stood in a row, 

" I wish I could hear them talk, 11 she said, 

"For it must be fine, I know. 11 

" I wish, 11 said the smallest book of all, 

" You would not crowd me so ; 

I'm squeezed so tight I scarce can breathe ; 

It's because I'm small, I know. 11 

" It's not my fault, 11 a fat book said ; 

I'm crowded so myself 

I cannot stir ; you little books 

Should be kept off the shelf." 



Complex Sentences 23 

27. A complex sentence may, of course, contain more 
than one kind of clause. In the sentence, " If you were 
present, tell me what happened," there is both an adverb 
clause and a noun clause. All three kinds of clauses may 
appear in the same sentence. 

28. A clause may be itself complex ; that is, may con- 
tain clauses used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs within 
the clause. 

In the sentence, " He was mistaken when he said that I was there," 
the adverb clause, when he said that I was there, contains a noun clause, 
that I was there. In the sentence, " He would have resigned if he had 
been the man that he was before he went into office," the adverb clause, 
if he had been the man that he was before he went into office, is complex, 
and contains two subordinate clauses ; the first, that he was, modifies 
the predicate noun man and is an adjective clause, and the second, be- 
fore he went into office, indicates time, and is an adverb clause. 



CHAPTER IV 

COMPOUND SENTENCES 

29. When two or more sentences are put together and 
treated as one, they make what is called a Compound 
Sentence. 

Thus in "I called, but he did not answer," / called, he did not 
answer, are coordinate sentences, so closely united in thought as to 
form but one sentence. 

30. In the example given above, the parts of the com- 
pound sentence are both simple sentences ; but any or all 
of the members of a compound sentence may be complex. 

For example : — 

I liked that book very well when I first read it, but it does not please 
me so well now. 

He called to them, but he did not hear what they said. 

After the war was over, he returned to his farm ; and there he lived 
until his brother died. 

31. On the other hand, a complex sentence may contain 
two or more clauses having the same construction : " I fore- 
saw that the plan would fail, and that we should come out 
poorer than before." Such clauses are called Coordinate 
Clauses. 

EXERCISE 24 

I. Construct the following compound sentences : — 

(i) Two sentences, in both parts simple sentences. 

(2) Two sentences, one part simple and the other complex. 

(3) Two sentences, both parts complex. 

24 



Compound Sentences 25 

2. Construct two complex sentences that contain coordi- 
nate clauses. 

EXERCISE 25 

Point out the compound sentences and tell whether the 
parts are simple or complex : — 

1. I called, but he did not answer. 

2. Hamilton smote the rock of national resources, and abundant 
streams of revenue gushed forth. 

3. He says what he means, and he means what he says. 

4. Read that you may weigh and consider the thoughts of others, 
and write that others may weigh and consider your thoughts. 

5. Then the Prince took Present by the hand, and they went away 
together toward the city. 

6. " I am as I always was," he said, " but now you see me in my true 
character. " 

7. It was raining hard when I went to bed, and they said the creek 
was over its banks. 

8. " We're not at all afraid," said one ; 
" We're quite too fine and new ; 
But you may find perhaps that now 
She'll scarcely care for you." 



CHAPTER V 

SENTENCE ANALYSIS 

32. To analyze a sentence is to resolve it into its parts. 
First, tell whether the sentence is simple, complex, or com- 
pound ; then point out the simple subject, with its adjuncts, 
classifying them, and analyzing phrases and clauses ; then 
point out the simple predicate and its adjuncts, analyzing 
phrases and clauses as in the subject. For example : — 

i. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think 
I should live till I were married. 

This is a complex sentence. 

The subject is I; it has no adjuncts. 

The verb is did think. Its adjuncts are : — 

The negative adverb not ; the noun clause I should live 
till I were married, object of did think ; and the ad- 
verb clause of time when I said I would die a bachelor, 
modifying did think. 

The noun clause, object of did think, is analyzed as fol- 
lows : — 

Subject /; verb, should live ; till I were married, adverb 
clause of time limiting shoidd live. In this time clause 
/is the subject, were married is the predicate, and till 
is a subordinate conjunction, joining the clause as a 
time modifier to should live. 
26 



Sentence Analysis 27 

The adverb clause when I said I would die a bachelor is 
analyzed as follows : — 

Subject, // verb, said ; I would die a bachelor, noun 
clause, object of said ; when, conjunctive adverb, 
modifying said, and joining the whole clause as time 
modifier to the verb did think. Of the noun clause, 
object of said, the subject is // the verb, would die ; 
and bachelor is predicate nominative, used with would 
die to complete the predicate. A is an adjective quali- 
fying bachelor. 

The analysis of this sentence may be shown as fol- 
lows : — 

Subject: I. 

Simple predicate : did think. 
Adjuncts of simple pred. : 
Negative adverb : not. 

Noun clause, object of did think : I should live till I were married. 
Subject: /. 

Simple pred. : should live. 
Adjuncts of simple pred. : 

Adverb clause : till I were married. 
Subject : /. 

Predicate : were married. 
Conjunction: till. 
Adverb clause to did think : when I said I would die a bachelor. 
Subject : /. 
Simple pred. : said. 
Adjuncts of simple pred. : 

Noun clause, object of said'. I would die a bachelor. 
Subject: /. 

Simple pred. : would die. 
Adjuncts of pred. : 

Pred. nominative : bachelor. 
Adjunct: a. 
Conjunctive adverb : when. 



28 English Grammar 

2. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree's shade, 
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, 
Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 

This is a complex sentence. The complete subject is : 
The rude forefathers of the hamlet, each in his narrow cell 
forever laid ; the complete predicate is : sleep beneath 
those rugged elms, that yew tree's shade, where heaves the 
turf in many a mouldering heap. 

Simple subj. : forefathers. 
Adjuncts of simple subj. : 
Adjectives : the, rude. 
Adjective phrase : of the hamlet. 

Noun dependent on preposition : hamlet. 
Adjective : the. 

Preposition showing relation of hamlet to forefathers : of. 
Pronoun in apposition : each. 

Participle modifying each : laid. 

Adverb phrase : in his narrow cell. 
Noun dependent on prep. : cell. 

Adjuncts of cell: his, narrow. 
Prep, showing relation of cell to laid: in. 
Adverb modifying laid: forever. 
Simple pred. : sleep. 
Adjuncts of simple pred. : 

Adverb phrase : beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree^s shade. 
Nouns dependent on preposition : elms, shade. 
Adjuncts of elms : those, rugged. 
Adjunct of shade : that yew tree^s. 

Poss. case limiting shade: yew tree's. 
Adjective to yew tree^s: that. 
Preposition showing relation of elms and shade to sleep : beneath. 
Adverb clause : where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap. 
Subject: turf. 

Adjective : the. 
Simple pred. : heaves. 



Sentence Analysis 29 

Adjuncts of simple pred. : 

Adverb phrase : in many a mouldering heap. 

Noun dependent on preposition in : heap. 

Adjuncts of heap: mouldering, majiy a. 

Prep, showing relation of heap to heaves : in. 
Conjunctive adverb : where. 

Notes. — 1. The foregoing analysis should be considered merely as 
suggestive. The teacher must be free to use that method of analysis 
which will best meet the needs of the class. 

2. Written analysis, if required at all, should be used but seldom. 
Analysis is best taught by oral, not written, exercises. 



REVIEW 

Sentences for analysis : — 

1. Earth with her thousand voices praises God. 

2. That night the baron dreamt of many a woe. 

3. Thou canst not surely be the same that thou didst seem. 

4. Where once we dwelt our name is heard no more. 

5. The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none. 

6. 'Tis pleasant, sure, to see one's name in print. 

7. I love not man the less, but nature more. 

8. I awoke one morning and found myself famous. 

9. No profit grows where is no pleasure taken. 

10. 'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too. 

11. Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep. 

12. A man he was to all the country dear. 

13. The village all declared how much he knew. 

14. Man's feeble race what ills await! 

15. The hand of little employment hath the daintier sense. 

16. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, 

To silence envious tongues. 

17. When Fortune means to men most good 

She looks upon them with a threatening eye. 

18. What I aspired to be 

And was not, comforts me. 



30 English Grammar 

19. To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, 
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. 

20. True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings ; 
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings. 

21. How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night, 
Like softest music to attending ears ! 

22. There is a tide in the affairs of men 

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. 

23. Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, 
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still. 

24. Words are like leaves ; and where they most abound, 
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. 

25. All times I have enjoyed 

Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those 
That loved me, and alone. 

26. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, 
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use ! 
As though to breathe were life. 

27. Death closes all : but something ere the end, 
Some work of noble note may yet be done, 
Not unbecoming men that strove with gods. 

28. His life was gentle ; and the elements 

So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, " This was a man ! * 

29. To thine own self be true, 

And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man. 

30. The old order changeth, yielding place to new ; 
And God fulfils Himself in many ways, 

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. 

31. He who ascends to mountain-tops shall find 

The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow ; 
He who surpasses or subdues mankind 
Must look down on the hate of those below. 



Sentence Analysis 31 

32. Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, 
With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay, 
There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule, 
The village master taught his little school. 

33. There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, 

The earth, and every common sight 

To me did seem 
Apparelled in celestial light. 

34. They are slaves who fear to speak 
For the fallen and the weak ; 
They are slaves who dare not be 
In the right with two or three. 

35. It little profits that, an idle king, 

By this still hearth, among these barren crags, 
Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole 
Unequal laws unto a savage race, 
That hoard, and feed, and sleep, and know not me. 

36. Though much is taken, much abides ; and though 
We are not now that strength which in old days 
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are ; 
One equal temper of heroic hearts, 

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 

37. Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was 
an infinite number of worlds ; and his friends asking him if any acci- 
dent had befallen him, he returned this answer : " Do you not think it 
is a matter worthy of lamentation that, when there is such a vast multi- 
tude of them, we have not yet conquered one?" 



38. FROM ULYSSES AND THE CYCLOPS 

Soon we came to the cave, but he was not within ; he was shep- 
herding his fat flocks in the pastures. So we went into the cave and 
looked around. There we saw many folds filled with lambs and kids. 
Each kind was penned by itself; in one fold were the spring lambs, in 
one were the summer lambs, and in one were the younglings of the 



32 English Grammar 

flock. On one side of the cave were baskets well laden with cheese ; 
and the milk pails and the bowls and the well-wrought vessels into 
which he milked were filled with whey. 

Then my men begged me to take the cheese and drive off the kids 
and lambs to the swift ship and sail without delay over the salt waves. 
Far better would it have been had I done as they wished ; but I bade 
them wait and see the giant himself, for perhaps he would give me gifts 
as a stranger's due. Then we kindled a fire and made a burnt offering ; 
and we ate some of the cheese, and sat waiting for him till he came 
back driving his flocks. In his arms he carried a huge board of dry 
wood to be used in cooking supper. This he threw down with a great 
noise inside the cave, and we in fear hid ourselves in the dark corners 
behind the rocks. 

Note. — If further practice in analysis of sentences is desired, the 
sentences in previous exercises may be used, or they may be substituted 
for the sentences given here, if these are found to be too difficult. 



PART II 
CHAPTER VI 

PARTS OF SPEECH 

33. All the words in our language may be divided, ac- 
cording to the part they take in a sentence, into eight 
classes or Parts of Speech. 

The eight parts of speech are : — 

Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition, 
Conjunction, Interjection. 

A Noun is the name of anything. 

A Pronoun is used, for the most part, to take the place 
of a Noun. 

A Verb says something of the subject. 

An Adjective is used to describe or in some way modify 
a Noun. 

An Adverb is used to modify a Verb, or an Adjective, 
or another Adverb. 

A Preposition shows the relation of a Noun or Pronoun 
to something else in the sentence. 

A Conjunction is used to join words or groups of words. 

An Interjection is used to call attention to or to express 
some sudden feeling. 

34. Some words may be sometimes one part of speech, 
sometimes another, according to their meaning or use in 
the sentence. 

33 



34 English Grammar 



EXERCISE 26 

Tell the part of speech of each italicized word : — 

I. Wisdom is better than rubies. 2. He builded better than he 
knew. 3. I could have better spared a better man. 4. He thought to 
better his condition. 5. Their betters could hardly be found. 6. They 
got the better of him. 7. His was a sound mind in a sound body. 
8. So sound he slept that naught might him awake. 9. Sense and not 
sound must be the principle. 10. How silver-sweet sound lovers' 
tongues! 11. There was not a man to till the ground. 12. The miller 
ground all day from morn till night. 13. Now all is calm and fresh 
and still. 14. The wind ceased and there was a great calm. 
15. With his name the mothers still their babes. 16. Brandy is made 
in a still. 17. Sunshine broken in the rill, though turned astray, is sun- 
shine still. 18. Music hath power to calm the savage breast. 19. He 
roamed a savage in the woods. 20. The kite went up and down. 
21. He walked up and down the street. 22. She went by dale and 
she went by down. 23. I remember how you downed Hamilton. 
24. They had their ups and downs of fortune, 

EXERCISE 27 

Make sentences containing the following words used as 
different parts of speech : — 

Fast. Round. Bitter. But. Up. Long. Mean. After. Past. 

Like. Square. Wheel. Blow. Water. Bear. Spring. Part. 

Name. Fly. Bark. Blind. Range. Behind. Hire. Place. Kind. 
Fine. Lean. Idle. Trick. 



CHAPTER VII 
INFLECTION 

35. Inflection, as used in grammar, means a change in 
the form of words to mark a change of meaning. 

When we say boxes, that which distinguishes it from box is es ; when 
we say lighted, that which distinguishes it from light is ed; when we say 
taller, that which distinguishes it from tall is er. The es in boxes, the 
ed in lighted, the er in taller, are inflections. 

Inflections are generally at the end of words : churches from church, 
brothers from brother, mother's from mother, oxen from ox, blinded 
from blind, slept from sleep, eaten from eat, looking from look, older 
from old, highest from high. 

Sometimes the change takes place not at the end but within the 
word : men from man, m/ce from ?nouse, sang from sing, rode from ride. 

36. Some of the parts of speech are inflected, others 
are not inflected. Inflected are : Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, 
Adjectives, and some Adverbs. Uninflected are : Preposi- 
tions, Conjunctions, Interjections, and some Adverbs. 

The inflection of a Noun or Pronoun is called Declension. 

The inflection of a Verb is called Conjugation. 

The inflection of an Adjective or Adverb is called 
Comparison. 

Accordingly, we decline Nouns and Pronouns, we conju- 
gate Verbs, we compare Adjectives and Adverbs. 

Our language has few inflections. One part of speech, 
as we have seen, readily passes into another without change 
of form, and can, therefore, be distinguished only by the 
sense; and so, in the analysis of sentences, ftinction or use 
largely takes the place of form or inflection. 

35 



CHAPTER VIII 
NOUNS 

37. Common Nouns. — A name that is common to a 
class of objects is called a Common Noun. City, river, 
man, are common nouns. City is the name given to any 
large town ; any large stream is a river. 

38. Proper Nouns. — The particular name by which one 
of a class is distinguished from others of the class is called 
a Proper Noun. New York, Potomac, Harold, are proper 
nouns. New York distinguishes the city so named from 
other cities ; Potomac is the name of a certain river in 
Virginia ; Harold is the name by which we distinguish the 
bearer of it from others of the same class — other boys or 
men. 

39. Abstract Nouns. — The qualities of an object are 
indicated by adjectives ; actions, by verbs ; and conditions, 
by verbs or nouns. So we say, "The paper is white," 
" Scholars study" "^Esop was a slave" But the qualities, 
actions, and conditions, though not objects of sense, are 
objects of thought, ideas ; and these ideas we can express 
by nouns. The quality which the paper has we call 
whiteness ; the action of the scholars, studying; the con- 
dition of the slave, slavery. Nouns that are the names 
of qualities, actions, or conditions, we call Abstract 
Nouns. 

36 



Nouns 37 

Abstract Nouns are formed from Adjectives, Verbs, and 
other Nouns. 

(i) From Adjectives : — 

Whiteness, boldness, foolishness, freedom, wisdom, truth, width, 
warmth, honesty, purity, solidity, rapidity, prudence, patience, excellence, 
distance, justice. 

(2) From Verbs : — 

Pleasure, occupation, election, service, judgment, refinement, beliei, 
defence, seeing, learning, reading, proof, strife, choice, knowledge. 

(3) From Nouns : — 

Boyhood, manhood, friendship, kinship, thraldom, sovereignty, 
priestcraft, rascality, mastery, roguery, infancy, heroism, knavery, 
bondage, presidency. 

There are also abstract nouns that are not formed from other words. 
Such are time, space, faith. 

40. Collective Nouns. — A Collective Noun is the name 
of a collection or group of objects of the same class. 
Army, flock, herd, swarm, congress, fleet, nation, are col- 
lective nouns. 

EXERCISE 28 

Point out each noun and tell of what kind it is : — 

1. The miller had a wart on his nose. 2. Mr. Miller lives in New 
York, but is now visiting his cousin, George Brown, in St. Louis. 3. Old 
Ironsides was the popular name of the frigate Constitution. 4. The 
flock of sheep strayed off into another field. 5. Washington was 
remarkable for prudence as well as for courage. 6. Eternal vigi- 
lance is the price of liberty. 7. Let not the sun go down upon your 
wrath. 8. Love is the fulfilling of the law. 9. The horn of the hun- 
ter is heard on the hill. 10. Rowland's regiment is on duty in Cuba. 
11. There never lived a braver youth. 12. Youth is the spring-time of 
life. 13. Hope springs eternal in the human breast. 14. Congress will 



38 English Grammar 

adjourn in two weeks. 15. Excalibur was the name of King Arthur's 
sword. 16. Alexander's horse was named Bucephalus. 17. A little 
learning is a dangerous thing. 18. The committee made a unanimous 
report. 19. Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition. 20. Little 
Laura was a beauty. 21. The kittens are little beauties. 22. In union 
there is strength. 

EXERCISE 29 
Compose and write : — 



2. Two sentences containing proper nouns. 

3. Two sentences containing abstract nouns. 

4. Two sentences containing collective nouns. 

5. Two sentences containing both common and proper nouns. 

6. Two sentences containing both proper and collective nouns. 

41. To Nouns belong Gender, Number, and Case, which 
are partly distinguished by inflections. 

GENDER 

42. Gender is a distinction in words corresponding to 
the natural distinction of sex. All nouns may be divided, 
according to gender, into three classes : Masculine, Femi- 
nine, and Neuter. 

(1) Names of male beings are of the Masculine Gender: 
boy, brother, ox. 

(2) Names of female beings are of the Feminine Gender: 
girl, sister, cow. 

(3) Names of objects of neither sex are of the Neuter 
Gender : leaf, stone, hat. 

Note. — Names common to both sexes are sometimes said to be of 
the Common Gender : parent, cousin, bird. 



Gender 



39 



43. The gender of nouns is distinguished in three 
ways : — 

( i ) By different words : — 

Masculine Feminine 



man 

boy 

father 

brother 

nephew 

king 

lord 



woman 

girl 

mother 

sister 

niece 

queen 

lady 



Masculine 


Feminine 


son 


daughter 


uncle 


aunt 


monk 


nun 


drake 


duck 


gander 


goose 


wizard 


witch 


bachelor 


maid 



(2) By different endings : — 



Masculifie 

lion 

count 

heir 

Jew 

host 

actor 

hero 



Femi7iine 

lioness 

countess 

heiress 

Jewess 

hostess 

actress 

heroine 



Masculine 


Feminine 


executor 


executrix 


sultan 


sultana 


czar 


czarina 


marquis 


marchioness 


master 


mistress 


lad 


lass 


Francis 


Frances 



(3) By composition with distinguishing words : 



Masculine 

man-servant 

he-bear 

he-goat 

cock-sparrow 



Feminine 

maid-servant 

she-bear 

she-goat 

hen-sparrow 



Masculine 

bondman 

turkey-cock 

peacock 

merman 



Feminine 

bondwoman 

turkey-hen 

pea-hen 

mermaid 



Note. — The feminine inflections of purely English origin are -ster 
in spinster (old feminine of sflznner), and -en in vixen (old feminine of 
fox). Many of the words in list (2) are foreign words and form the 
feminine according to the rules of the language from which they are 
taken. 



40 English Grammar 

EXERCISE 30 

Give the feminine of the following nouns : — 

Bachelor. Boy. Drake. Father. Earl. Heir. Horse. Hus- 
band. King. Lord. Man. Sir. Son. Wizard. Bridegroom. 
Widower. He-goat. Peacock. Marquis. Lad. Master. Host. 
Duke. Actor. Emperor. Signor. Hero. Landgrave. Buck. Ram. 
Czar. Administrator. Alumnus. 

EXERCISE 31 
Compose and write : — 
i. A sentence containing nouns of the masculine gender. 

2. A sentence containing nouns of the feminine gender. 

3. A sentence containing nouns of the neuter gender. 

4. A sentence containing nouns of all three genders. 

5. A sentence containing the feminine of nephew and hero. 

6. A sentence containing the feminine of master and host. 

NUMBER 

44. Number, in grammar, is used to indicate whether 
one or more of the objects named by the noun is meant. 
There are two numbers in English, the Singular and the 
Plural. Thus boy, meaning only one, is of the Singular 
Number; boys, meaning more than one, is of the Plural 
Number. 

I. The regular way of forming the Plural is by adding 
s or es to the singular. 

I. By adding s : — 

(a) boys, cows, feathers, shores, tables, doves, hats, 
strings, fields, flowers, metals, marbles, windows. 

(b) Words ending in silent e preceded by a hissing sound 
make another syllable when s is added : horses, houses, 
fences, vices, vases, sizes, bridges. 



Number 41 

2. By adding es : — 

(a) es is added, making another syllable, to nouns ending 
in s, sk, ch (as in church), x, and z: gases, glasses, wishes, 
dishes, bushes, benches, churches, witches, boxes, foxes, 
topazes. 

(b) es is added without making a new syllable : heroes, 
potatoes, halves, wolves. 

Some nouns ending in / or fe change the /to v : — 

beef, beeves ; calf, calves ; loaf, loaves ; shelf, shelves ; thief, thieves *, 
wolf, wolves ; knife, knives ; life, lives ; self, selves. 

Others do not change : — 

grief, griefs ; proof, proofs ; dwarf, dwarfs ; hoof, hoofs ; cliff, cliffs ; 
roof, roofs ; chief, chiefs ; reef, reefs ; scarf, scarfs. 

Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant change y to 
i and add es : — 

lady, ladies ; baby, babies ; lily, lilies ; mercy, mercies ; pony, ponies ; 
body, bodies ; puppy, puppies ; penny, pennies ; copy, copies ; berry, 
berries ; army, armies. 

When the y is preceded by a Vowel the plural is formed 
simply by adding s : — 

boys, keys, joys, chimneys, turkeys, valleys, monkeys, abbeys, alleys. 

Of nouns ending in o t the following add s : — 

quarto, canto, folio, halo, libretto, palmetto, piano, solo, tyro, octavo. 

The following add es : — 

hero, motto, negro, cargo, echo, potato, tomato, mosquito, grotto, 
volcano, calico, buffalo. 

Note. — Letters, figures, and signs are usually made plural by adding 
V : m\y, 3'j. Dot yours Vs and cross your Vs. 



42 English Grammar 

II. A few nouns show an old plural in en : — 

oxen, children, brethren, kine. 

Note.- — In the last three the en has been added to earlier plu- 
rals : childre, br ether, kye. These, therefore, are really double plurals. 

III. A few nouns form their plural simply by change of 
vowel. These are : — 

man, men ; woman, women ; foot, feet ; goose, geese ; tooth, 
teeth ; mouse, mice ; louse, lice. 

IV. Some nouns have the same form for both numbers : — 
deer, sheep, swine. 

45. Nouns with Two Plurals. — Some nouns have two 
plural forms, with different meanings. The most common 
of these are : - — 

brother brothers (of a family) brethren (of a church) 

cloth cloths (kinds of cloth) clothes (garments) 

die dies (stamps for coining) dice (cubes for gaming) 

fish fishes (separately) fish (collectively) 

genius geniuses (men of genius) genii (spirits) 

index indexes (to books) indices (in algebra) 

shot shots (discharges of a gun) shot (balls of lead) 

penny pennies (separately) pence (collectively) 

Some nouns that have commonly a regular plural use 
the singular form in such phrases as : — 

Three yoke of oxen, three score, ten fathom, a troop of horse. 

46. Nouns used only in the Plural. — Some nouns have 
no singular. Such are : — - 

tongs, shears, scissors, trousers. 

47. Foreign Plurals. — Words borrowed from other lan- 
guages and not yet felt to be true English words form 
their plural according to the rules of the language from 



Number 



43 



which they are borrowed. The more common of such 
words are : — - . 



Singular 


Plural 


Singular 


Plural 


alumna 


alumnae 


antenna 


antennae 


formula 


formulas 


vertebra 


vertebrae 


nebula 


nebulae 


larva 


larvae 


alumnus 


alumni 


terminus 


termini 


radius 


radii 


stimulus 


stimuli 


focus 


foci 


cactus 


cacti 


datum 


data 


memorandum 


memoranda 


dictum 


dicta 


medium 


media 


stratum 


strata 


effluvium 


effluvia 


erratum 


errata 


bacterium 


bacteria 


appendix 


appendices 


vortex 


vortices 


vertex 


vertices 


radix 


radices 


series 


series 


species 


species 


genus 


genera 


, apparatus 


apparatus 


phenomenon 


phenomena 


automaton 


automata 


criterion 


criteria 


ganglion 


ganglia 


thesis 


theses 


oasis 


oases 


axis 


axes 


antithesis 


antitheses 


amanuensis 


amanuenses 


hypothesis 


hypotheses 


analysis 


analyses 


crisis 


crises 


ellipsis 


ellipses 


parenthesis 


parentheses 


basis 


bases 






beau 


beaux 


madam 


rnesdames 


bandit 


banditti 


dilettante 


dilettanti 


cherub 


cherubim 


seraph 


seraphim 



Some of these words, however, have also an English 
plural : — 

Bandits, cherubs, beaus, memorandums, formulas, etc. 

48. Plural of Compound Nouns. — Compound nouns 
form their plural in several ways : — 



44 English Grammar 

(i) By adding the sign of the plural at the end of the 
compound : — 

Attorney-generals, major-generals, car-loads. 

(2) By adding the sign of the plural to the principal 
word in the compound : — 

Brothers-in-law, lookers-on, passers-by, letters-patent, courts-martial. 

(3) By adding the sign of the plural to both parts of the 
compound : — 

Knights-templars, men-servants. 

When two or more proper nouns are preceded by a title, 
the title only is pluralized, as : — 

Senators Jones and White, Professors Brown and Hill, the Misses 
Thompson (preferable to "the Miss Thompsons 11 ), Messrs. Hall and 
Wade, Mesdames Sloan and Carpenter. 

EXERCISE 32 

Give the singular of the plural nouns, and the plural 
of the singular nouns : — 

Valley. Mice. Key. Stories. Allies. Alleys. Wife. Proof. 
Knife. Selves. Antenna. Dicta. Theses. Fences. Witches. Beeves. 
Turkey. Quarto. Echo. Potato. Solo. Goose. Child. Sheep. 
Penny. Species. Phenomena. Basis. Crisis. Vortex. Criterion. 
Appendices. Apparatus. Genera. Handful. Sister-in-law. Looker-on. 

EXERCISE 33 
Compose and write : — 

1 . A sentence containing the plural of chief and army. 

2. A sentence containing the plural of hero and abbey. 

3. A sentence containing the plural of sheep and goose. 

4. A sentence containing the plural of alumnus and thesis. 

5. A sentence containing the plural of genius and stratum. 

6. A sentence containing the plural of father-in-law and a loaf oi 
bread. 



Case 45 



CASE 



49. Nouns 
and Objective. 


have three 


cases : Nominative, Possessive, 


Norn. 
Poss. 
Obj. 


boy 

boy's 

boy 


Singular 

lady 

lady's 

lady 

Plural 


child 

child's 

child 


Nom 
Poss. 
Obj. 


boys 
boys' 
boys 


ladies 
ladies' 
ladies 


children 

children's 

children 



The Nominative Case is the case of the subject of the 
verb. In the sentence " Birds fly," birds, the subject of 
the verb, is in the Nominative Case. 

The Possessive Case usually denotes possession : John's 
kite. 

The Objective Case is the case of the object, direct or 
indirect. In the sentence " The hunter killed a bird," bird 
is the direct object of the verb killed. In " He made the 
boy a whistle," whistle is the direct object and boy the 
indirect object of the verb. Bird, whistle, boy, in these 
sentences, are then in the Objective Case. 

EXERCISE 34 

Tell the case of each noun : — 

i. Harry broke his bicycle. 2. The thief was caught. 3. Leaves 
are falling. 4. Mr. Brown's house was burned. 5. Jane lost her book. 
6. The sun's rays melted the snow. 7. Did John find his top ? 8. The 
frost has killed the flowers. 9. Tom caught the ball. 10. Lightning 
struck the tree. 11. Mary's dress is torn. 12. The dog tore Mary's 



46 English Grammar 

dress. 13. Chestnuts are ripe. 14. The wind has scattered the leaves. 
15. Has the farmer sown his wheat ? 16. Arthur found a crow's nest. 
*7- The rain has stopped the children's game. 18. The merchant kept 
boys', men's, and ladies' shoes. 19. Alice found her brothers' books. 
20. When will the train leave ? 

50. Uses of the Nominative Case. — The Nominative is 
used as follows : — 

(1) As the Subject of a Verb : The sun rises. 

(2) As a Predicate Noun, with certain verbs that have 
not of themselves a complete meaning : The soldier be- 
came captain. 

(3) In Apposition with some other Nominative : Charles, 
the driver, lost his way. 

(4) In Address : John, where have you been ? 

(5) Absolutely with a participle : The rain being over, we 
returned home. This is called the Nominative Absolute. 

EXERCISE 35 

Point out the nouns in the nominative case, and tell in 
which of the five ways each is used : — 

1. Bryant, the poet, translated the Iliad. 2. A heavy rain having 
fallen, the roads were impassable. 3. Boatman, do not tarry. 4. He 
was elected governor. 5. My brother is a lawyer. 6. The sun 
having risen, we set out. 7. An honest man is the noblest work 
of God. 8. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. 
9. Cicero, the orator, was called Tully by older writers. 10. Henry, 
lend me your knife. 11. The Joneses are our neighbors. 12. Thomas, 
your mother is calling you. 13. Darkness coming on, we stopped at 
the tavern. 14. Benedict Arnold turned traitor. 15. The postman 
comes, the herald of a noisy world. 16. Kipling, the author of " The 
Jungle Book," is an Englishman. 17. Whitney was the inventor of the 
cotton-gin. 18. Eugene Field became a journalist. 19. Franklin left 
Boston a poor printer and returned a famous statesman. 20. Books 
are the legacies of wise men. 



Case 47 

EXERCISE 36 
Compose and write : — 

i. A sentence with two nominatives as subject. 

2. A sentence with a predicate nominative. 

3. A sentence with a nominative in apposition. 

4. A sentence with a nominative of address. 

5. A sentence with a nominative absolute. 

6. A sentence containing all the uses of the nominatives except 
4 and 5. 

51. Uses of the Possessive Case. — The Possessive Case 
is so called because it usually denotes possession. It is 
equivalent to of with the Objective Case. "The miller's 
house" is equivalent to "the house of the miller." 

Of with the Objective, however, is not always equivalent to the 
Possessive : " the city of Boston " cannot be changed to " Boston's 
city." On the other hand, the Possessive is not always equivalent to 
of with the Objective : " The Winter's Tale," the name of one of 
Shakspere's plays, means " a tale for winter," not " a tale of winter " ; 
" a Colt's revolver " means " a revolver made by Colt." 

The sign of the possessive singular, '.y, 1 is for an older es, still seen 
in Wednesday (Woden's day). It is also used to form the possessive 
plural of nouns whose nominative plural does not end in s : men's, 
oxen's, deer^s. 

In nouns of more than one syllable ending in an s or 2 sound the s 
is sometimes omitted, to avoid the unpleasant repetition of hissing 
sounds : " For conscience' sake," " Moses' seat," " Lycurgus' sons." 

In compound nouns, and when two or more words are 
closely connected, the possessive inflection comes at the 
end : father-in-law's, man-of-war's, somebody else's, Smith 
and Brown's store, Beaumont and Fletcher s plays, the 
Queen of England's crown. 

1 The comma above the line before the s is called an apostrophe. 



48 English Grammar 

When separate possession is meant, each noun should 
have the sign : JoJin's and Mary's shoes, Webster's and 
Worcester s dictionaries. 

The possessive plural of nouns forming the plural in s 
or es is indicated by the apostrophe alone : the boys' 
playground, ladies' waiting-room. 

EXERCISE 37 

Construct sentences containing the possessive case of 
the following nouns and phrases : — 

Sailor. Boy. Dog. Laborers. Workmen. Butterfly. Flies. 
Foxes. Marquis. Dwarf. Wife. Tornado. Geese. Princess. 
Demosthenes. Mason and Dixon. Wright and Ditson. Moses. 
Webster the statesman. The Prince of Wales. The Queen of 
England. Henry the Eighth. George III. President Jackson. 
Brother-in-law. Attorney-general. David the king. 

52. Uses of the Objective Case. — The Objective Case is 
used : — 

(1) As the Direct Object of a Verb : The hunter killed 
a deer, 

(2) As the Indirect Object of a verb : Robert gave his 
brother a knife. 

(3) After Prepositions : He fell into the pond. They 
returned before night. 

(4) In Apposition with another noun in the Objective 
Case : I know your friend, the judge. 

(5) As the Objective Complement, or Second Object, 
after certain verbs : They elected his father governor. 

(6) Adverbially, to express time, distance, and similar 
relations : I saw him Monday. He stayed two weeks. 
He ran a mile. 



Case 49 

EXERCISE 38 

Point out the nouns in the objective case, and tell in 
which of the six ways each is used : — 

I. The frost has killed the flowers. 2. Have you caught any fish ? 
3. He has been here a fortnight. 4. I saw your uncle, Mr. White, in 
the village. 5. I stood on the bridge at midnight. 6. His house is 
ten miles from the station. 7. The President has appointed Mr. Smith 
postmaster. 8. My cousin gave Robert a pony. 9. Have you paid 
the man his wages ? 10. The cat has killed Tony, my canary. 
11. The dog bit Thomas, the gardener. 12. They elected Harry cap- 
tain of the team. 13. The fish weighed three pounds. 14. We call 
Washington the father of his country. 15. I met Mr. Smith, the post- 
master, in the city last week. 16. He gave the man a blow on the 
cheek. 17. Mary sent her aunt a basket of flowers. 18. We returned 
home after dark. 19. -He lectured on Longfellow, the author of 
"Evangeline." 20. The tramp threw a stone at my dog Rover. 21. The 
hotel is three blocks from Broadway. 22. My racket cost five dollars. 
23. The snake measured four feet from head to tail. 24. My little 
brother is ten years old to-day. 

EXERCISE 39 
Compose and write : — 

1. A sentence with a direct object. 

2. A sentence with an indirect object. 

3. A sentence with object of a preposition. 

4. A sentence with an object in apposition. 

5. A sentence with an objective complement. 

6. Three sentences with an objective used adverbially. 

PARSING 

53. To parse a word is to tell what part of speech it is, 
and its relation to other words in the sentence. In parsing 
a Noun the principal thing is to decide in what case it is, 
and why. 



50 English Grammar 

REVIEW 

Parse each noun : — 

i. Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. 

2. Imitation is the sincerest flattery. 

3. Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them. 

4. The groves were God's first temples. 

5. A hard beginning maketh a good ending. 

6. No legacy is so rich as honesty. 

7. All mankind love a lover. 

8. The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament 
showeth his handiwork. 

9. Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth. 
10. Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge. 

11. At Christmas play and make good cheer, 
For Christmas comes but once a year. 

12. What are the wild waves saying, 

Sister, the whole day long ? 

13. One morn a Peri at the gate 
Of Eden stood disconsolate. 

14. Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, 
By whispering winds soon lulled to sleep. 

15. O judgment ! thou art fled to brutish beasts, 
And men have lost their reason. 

16. Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, 
They rave, recite, and madden round the land. 

17. From morn 

To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, 
A summer's day. 

18. They sang of love, and not of fame ; 

Forgot was Britain's glory ; 
Each heart recalled a different name, 
But all sang " Annie Laurie." 



CHAPTER IX 
PRONOUNS 

54. The Pronoun, as we have seen, is so called because it 
is used for a Noun. But this definition is not broad enough 
to cover all uses of pronouns. The pronouns I, we, you, 
who, this, that, express relations of person and place that 
the noun alone could not express. In " He that runs may- 
read," he and that cannot be replaced by nouns. Pronouns, 
then, are really reference words, pointing out persons and 
things, rather than standing for nouns. 

55. There are five classes of pronouns : — 

(i) Personal : / lent him my knife. 

(2) Interrogative : Who did this ? 

(3) Relative : The boy that borrowed my top lost it. 

(4) Demonstrative : Who did this f 

(5) Indefinite : Somebody said so. 

PERSONAL PRONOUNS 

56. Personal Pronouns are so called because they are used 
to distinguish the three grammatical Persons, the speaker 
(First Person), the person spoken to (Second Person), and 
the person or thing spoken of (Third Person). Like nouns, 
they have Gender, Number, and Case, and are declined as 
follows : — 

51 



52 



English Grammar 



First Person 


Second Person 




Third Person 




Singular 




Masc. 


Fern. 


IVeut. 


JVbm. I 


thou 


he 


she 


it 


Pass. \ m ? 
i mine 


(thy 
1 thine 


his 


J her 
< hers 


its 


Obj. me 


thee 


him 


her 


it 


Plural 










Noin. we 


you (ye) 




they 




Poss. \ 

( ours 


(your 
\ yours 




( their 
( theirs 




Obj. us 


you 




them 





Personal pronouns, unlike nouns, have different forms for the objec- 
tive and nominative cases : I, me ; he, him, etc. The only exceptions 
are you and it, which have the same form in the objective case that 
they have in the nominative. 

57. The possessive forms my, thy, her, its, our, your, their 
are never used without a noun following ; the forms mine, 
thine, hers, ours, yours, theirs are used when no noun fol- 
lows : — 

He is my friend and yours. 

He is your friend and mine. 

Is this her book ? No, that book is hers. 

It is our turn, not theirs. 

It is their turn, not ours. 

His is used both ways : — 

Is this his hat ? Yes, that hat is his. 

In older English mine and thine were used instead of my and thy 
before words beginning with a vowel : Mine equal ; thine enemy. 

58. The forms of the second person singular, thou, thy, 
thine, thee, are used now only in poetry and prayer. In 
ordinary speech we use instead the plural forms, you, your, 
yours. The plural verb is always used with you, even 
when only one person is addressed : Were you there ? I was. 



Personal Pronouns 53 

In older English, as in the English Bible (i6n),ye is regularly used 
for the nominative, and you for the objective : "No doubt but ye are 
the people and wisdom shall die with you.' 1 '' Ye is sometimes found 
in modern poetry ; but ordinary speech uses you for both nominative 
and objective. 

The original possessive of it was not its, but his : " If the salt have 
lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted ? " Ifs, in modern English, 
is an abbreviation of it is, and should never be used for its. 

The plurals we, you, and they are sometimes used indefinitely, with- 
out reference to any particular person : — 

We seldom find honor among thieves. 
You cannot eat your cake and have it too. 
They say so. 

Your worm is your only emperor for diet. 
Your real grumbler never smiles. 

// is used after certain verbs indefinitely, as a sort of cognate object 
(see 84) : foot it, rough it, queen it, fight it out. 

59. Compound Personal Pronouns. — The Compound Per- 
sonal Pronouns are formed by adding self {selves) to forms 
of the Personal Pronouns. They are : myself, thyself, your- 
self, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. 

These Compound Personal Pronouns are used : — 

(i) As Reflexive Pronouns : I hurt myself. He praises 
himself. 

A Reflexive Pronoun is always the object (direct or in- 
direct) of a verb, or the object of a preposition, and refers 
to the same person or thing as the subject : We should 
never praise ourselves. He got himself a new hat. She 
thinks only of herself. 

In older English the simple pronouns are used as reflexives. This 
use still occurs in poetry, and sometimes also in prose, especially in the 
case of the indirect object : Now I lay me down to sleep. My father 
has bought him a new horse. 



54 English Grammar 

(2) As Emphatic Pronouns emphasizing a noun or pro- 
noun already used: I saw him myself. He told me so 
himself. She herself knows it is false. I asked the gov- 
ernor himself. 

The compound pronoun is sometimes used instead of the simple 
personal pronoun : Here are tickets for yourself and friends. 

Self (selves} is sometimes used separately as a noun : Tarquin's 
self 1 my wofiil self] men may rise on stepping stones of their dead 
selves to higher things. 

EXERCISE 40 

Point out the personal and the compound pronouns, and 
tell the person, number, and case of each. 

1. Love thy neighbor as thyself. 2. It is I ; open the door. 3. Take 
heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them. 4. Thy 
father's friend forget thou not. 

5. His flock he gathers and he guides 
To open downs and mountain sides. 

6. Rocked in the cradle of the deep, 
I lay me down in peace to sleep. 

7. Who gives himself with his alms feeds three, — 
Himself, his hungry neighbor, and me. 

8. Theirs not to make reply, 
Theirs not to reason why, 
Theirs but to do and die. 

9. Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul ! 

10. Riches certainly make themselves wings. 

11. What is yours is mine, and all mine is yours. 

12. "God save thee, Ancient Mariner, 

From the fiends that plague thee thus ! 
Why look'st thou so ? " " With my crossbow 
I shot the Albatross." 



Interrogative Pronouns 55 

EXERCISE 41 

Compose and write : — 

1. A sentence with a reflexive pronoun of the third person, feminine, 
singular. 

2. A sentence with an emphatic pronoun of the first person, plural. 

3. A sentence with they used indefinitely. 

4. A sentence with a reflexive pronoun of the first person, singular. 

5. A sentence with the objective case of the second person, singular. 

6. A sentence containing your and hers. 

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS 

60. The Interrogative Pronouns are used in asking 
questions. They are who, which, and what. 

Who is used only of persons : Who is your teacher ? 

What is used only of things : What did he want ? 

Which is used of either persons or things : Which of 
you came first? Which will you have, the apple or the 
pear ? 

61. Which and what are uninfected, that is, have each 
only one form. Which is used as singular and plural, 
nominative and objective. What is used for both cases, 
but is always singular. They have no possessive case. 

Who is declined as follows : — 

Nom. who 
Poss. whose 
Obj. whom 

It has no variation of form for gender or number. 

Whether, meaning "which of the two," is now obsolete, but is 
familiar from its use in Scripture: "Whether is greater, the gift or 
the altar?" 



5 6 English Grammar 

EXERCISE 42 
Parse the interrogative pronouns : — 

i. With whose permission did he leave home ? 2. Who saw him 
last ? 3. What does he want ? 4. Which do you prefer, the red or 
the blue ? 5. With whom were you riding yesterday ? 6. Whose 
horse did you drive ? 7. What was the cause of the outcry ? 8. To 
whom did you give the apple ? 9. Who is that standing on the bridge ? 
10. What is the name of that flower? 11. Which is the wind that 
brings the rain ? 12. What have you in your pocket ? 13. Here are 
two marbles ; which will you take ? 14. Whom do you wish to see ? 
15. Which passed the better examination, Mary or Alice ? 16. Whose 
house is that ? 17. Who killed Cock-Robin ? 18. What is the mean- 
ing of interrogative ? 19. What did you hit him with ? 20. What did 
you tell him for? 21. Whom do you want to go with? 22. Which 
of the boys do you like best? 23. What is corn worth this week? 
24. What are the wild waves saying ? 25. Who were there ? 

EXERCISE 43 
Compose and write : — 

1 . A sentence beginning with the objective of who. 

2. A sentence beginning with the possessive of who. 

3. A sentence beginning with what as subject. 

4. A sentence beginning with what as object. 

5. A sentence beginning with which as subject. 

6. A sentence beginning with which as object. 

RELATIVE PRONOUNS 

62. The word or group of words to which a pronoun 
refers is called the Antecedent of the pronoun, so named 
because it commonly comes before the pronoun. 

Pronouns which join the clause in which they stand to 
their antecedents are called Relative Pronouns. 



Relative Pronouns 57 



This is the house that Jack built, 

that is a relative pronoun. It is a pronoun because it stands for the 
noun house; it is a relative pronoun because it joins the clause "that 
Jack built " as a modifier to its antecedent house. 

Relative pronouns are not only reference words, like 
other pronouns, but are also conjunctive words. They 
are, however, not to be confounded with conjunctions, for 
they have the same case relations as the personal pronouns. 

63. The relative pronouns are who, which, what, and 
that. That and what are indeclinable, and are used only 
in the nominative and objective cases. 

Who and which are declined as follows : — 



Nom. 


who 


which 


Poss. 


whose 


[whose] 


Obj. 


whom 


which 



Who, which, and that are singular or plural, according to 
the number of the antecedent. What is always singular. 
Which is really indeclinable, but the possessive case of 
who is frequently used as a possessive of which. We may 
say, "A triangle whose sides are equal," as well as, "A 
triangle the sides of which are equal." 

That was originally a demonstrative pronoun, and is the oldest rela- 
tive ; who, which, and what, originally interrogative pronouns, came 
later to be used as relatives. 

64. As Relative Pronouns, zvho refers to persons only, 
which to things, and that to either persons or things. 
Which was formerly used for persons as well as for things, 
as in the older form of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father 
which art in heaven." As an interrogative which is used 
indifferently for persons and things. 



58 English Grammar 

65. The Relative Pronoun takes its person and number 
from its antecedent, but its case is determined by its use : — 

I, who am your chief, command you. 

I, whom they hated, was their benefactor. 

Thou, who seest all things, seest me. 

He whose tongue is loudest thinks the least. 

66. What differs from the other relatives in that it has 
no antecedent. In meaning it contains its own antecedent. 

Thus in — 

What is new is not always true, 

what is equivalent in meaning to that which ; and we may say 

That which is new is not always true, 

where that, subject of is not always true, is the antecedent of which, 
subject of is new. In parsing, however, it is better not to resolve what 
into that which. In the sentence above, parse what as the subject of 
is new ; and what is new as the subject of is not always true. See 
Noun Clauses, 142, I. 

Who, also, is sometimes used without an antecedent expressed : 
" Who steals my purse steals trash." 

67. Compound Relative Pronouns. — ever and -soever, 

affixed to who, which, and what, form the Compound 
Relatives whoever, whichever, whatever, etc. They have 
no antecedent expressed, and refer to no definite person 
or thing, but have the same connective force as the simple 
relatives : — 

Whoever asks may have. 

Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
them. 

Who in these compounds is declined : Whosoever, whose- 
soever, whomsoever. 



Relative Pronouns 59 

68. As and But as Relatives. — The conjunction as is 
used, especially after such, with the force of a relative 
pronoun : — 

We are such stuff as dreams are made of. 

But, in such sentences as — 

There is no one but knows this, 

is equivalent to who . . . not, and takes therefore the place 
of a relative. 

69. Relative Omitted. — The relative pronoun is some- 
times* omitted, as in — 

He is the very man I met before. 
Have you read the book I gave you ? 

where the objects of met, gave, are to be supplied in 
parsing. 

70. To parse a Relative Pronoun, give its case and its 
agreement with its antecedent, thus : — 

A British officer, who saw the battle, has written an account of it. 

Who is a relative pronoun, in the third person, singular number, 
and masculine gender, to agree with its antecedent officer, and in the 
nominative case, because it is the subject of the verb saw. 

The British officer whom you met yesterday has been ordered home. 

Whom is a relative pronoun, in the third person, singular number, 
and masculine gender, to agree with its antecedent officer, and in the 
objective case, because it is the object of the verb met. 

What he says is true. 

What is a relative pronoun, without antecedent expressed ; it is in 
the objective case, because it is the object of the verb says. The clause 
what he says is then to be parsed as subject of the predicate is true. 



6o English Grammar 

EXERCISE 44 

Parse the relative pronouns : — 

i . I have lost the book that you lent me. 2. The tailor that lived 
on Broadway has moved. 3. The rain which threatened has passed 
over. 4. Have you seen the sailor that returned from Hawaii last 
week ? 5. I know a little boy whose name is Jack. 6. Thomas Jeffer- 
son, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, also founded the 
University of Virginia. 7. The Philippine Islands, which the Ameri- 
cans acquired from Spain, are very fertile. 8. Rudyard Kipling, whom 
Americans at first disliked because he criticised them severely, has since 
become a favorite author in the United States. 9. Lightning struck 
the tree under which we were sitting. 10. My friend whom you met is 
a doctor. 11. He laughs best who laughs last. 12. They who sow 
the wind reap the whirlwind. 13. Benjamin Franklin, who wrote " Poor 
Richard's Almanac," was famous as a scientist. 14. The people whose 
houses were burned lost heavily. 15. He was always just, even to peo- 
ple whom he disliked. 16. Who is the man that you were talking 
with just now? 17. The book that you spoke of is in the library. 
18. The catalogue that you sent for will come to-morrow. 19. Your 
sister has found the purse you lost yesterday. 20. That's the funniest 
story I ever heard. 21. He knew me the minute he saw me. 22. The 
book he wants is in my desk. 23. I, who am known to you all, give 
you my word for it. 24. O thou that hearest prayer, to thee shall all 
flesh come. 25. Give me what you have in your hand. 

EXERCISE 45 

Compose and write : — 

1 . A sentence containing the relative whose. 

2. A sentence containing the relative whom. 

3. A sentence containing the relative that as subject. 

4. A sentence containing the relative that as object. 

5. A sentence with relative omitted. 

6. A sentence containing the relative what. 

7. A sentence containing who with antecedent I. 

8. A sentence containing who with antecedent thou. 



Demonstrative Pronouns 61 



DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS 

71. Demonstrative Pronouns point out emphatically the 
person or thing referred to. They are this, plural these, and 
that, plural those. The former stands for a nearer, the 
latter for a more remote, person or thing. They are not 
inflected for case ; the same form is used for the nomina- 
tive and objective, and the possessive is wanting. 

This is the book you asked for. 
That is yours ; this is mine. 
These are the men I told you of. 
Those are the books I want, not these. 

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS 

72. The following words, some of which are properly 
adjectives and others nouns, have, when used substan- 
tively, a pronominal value and are classed together as 
Indefinite Pronouns : — 

Any, any one, anybody, anything ; 
Some, some one, somebody, something ; 
One, none, nobody, nothing ; 

Aught, naught ; both ; much, little ; many, several, few, all ; 
either, neither ; each ; such. 

One and its compounds, somebody and the like, other and 
another, either and neither, have a possessive case : One's 
duty. Somebody's book. One and other have the plurals 
ones, others. 

73. Reciprocal Pronouns. — Each other, one another, are 
called Reciprocal Pronouns. In the sentence, "They 
helped one another," one is in the nominative case, in 
apposition with they; another is in the objective case, 
object of the verb helped. 



Si English Grammar 

In such sentences as, " I tell you what," what is neither relative nor 
interrogative, but indefinite, and should be parsed as such. 



EXERCISE 46 
Parse the demonstrative and the indefinite pronouns : — 

i. Have you seen this before? 2. That is what I asked you. 
3. Are these the goods you ordered ? 4. This is the most interesting 
story I ever read. 5. Those who come first will get the best seats. 
6. Has any one been in this morning ? 7. He promised to give special 
attention to those who apply by letter. 8. I preferred these to those. 
9. One never knows what may happen. 10. Each respected the other. 
11. One's conduct speaks louder than one's words. 12. They kept 
each other's secrets. 13. It is somebody else's turn to go. 14. That 
is nobody's business but his. 15. Some went one way, some another. 
16. I have no ink; please give me some. 17. If any one comes, tell 
him to wait. 18. Do you need anything more ? 19. Both of them 
may go, for aught I care. 20. Neither of these answers is right. 
21. All of you made the same mistake. 22. Some said yes, others no. 
23. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. 24. Few can tell what he 
really thinks. 25. When he is angry he stops at nothing. 26. That 
is all I have to say. 27. Somebody has scribbled on my paper, and I 
haven't any that I can use. 28. Which pen do you want, this or that ? 
29. Give me both. 30. He has seen much, but has learned little. 
31. Each of them gave a different answer. 32. Few shall part where 
many meet. 

EXERCISE 47 
Compose and write : — 

1 . A sentence containing two demonstrative pronouns in the singular. 

2. A sentence containing two demonstrative pronouns in the plural. 

3. A sentence containing an indefinite pronoun as subject. 

4. A sentence containing an indefinite pronoun as object. 

5. A sentence containing an indefinite pronoun in the possessive. 

6. A sentence containing somebody else in the possessive. 



Pronouns 63 



REVIEW 

Parse the nouns and the pronouns : — 

1. Talent is that which is in a man's power; genius is that in whose 
power a man is. 

2. There are some that bear a grudge even to those that do them 
good. 

3. I am a part of all that I have met. 

4. Go, get you to your house. 

5. Whoever fights, whoever falls, 
Justice conquers evermore. 

6. Who is he 

That he should rule us ? Who hath proven him 
King Uther's son ? 

7. Rattle his bones over the stones ! 

He's only a pauper whom nobody owns ! 

8. Oh, don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt, 

Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown ; 
Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile, 
And trembled with fear at your frown ? 

9. That man may last, but never lives, 
Who much receives, but nothing gives ; 
Whom none can love, whom none can thank, — 
Creation's blot, creation's blank. 

10. The spirit who bideth by himself 

In the land of mist and snow, 
He loved the bird that loved the man 
Who shot him with his bow. 

11. How happy is he born and taught, 

That serveth not another's will ; 
Whose armor is his honest thought, 
And simple truth his utmost skill ! 



CHAPTER X 

ADJECTIVES 

74. Adjectives may be divided into three classes : — 

(i) Adjectives of Quality: A good horse. A wise man. 
Cold weather. 

(2) Numeral Adjectives : Five days. Three times. The 
seventh man. 

(3) Pronominal Adjectives: This class. That hoy. Which 
book ? 

NUMERAL ADJECTIVES 

75. Numerals are of two kinds, Cardinals and Ordinals. 
The Cardinals are those which tell how many : one, two, 
three, twenty, hundred, thousand. 

The Ordinals are those which tell position in a series : 
first, second, third, twentieth, hundredth, thousandth. 

The ordinals (except first and second} are also used to tell the parts 
into which a quantity or thing is divided, and have then the construc- 
tion and inflection of nouns : Two-thirds of the crew were drowned. 
Three-fiftks of twenty is twelve. 

PRONOMINAL ADJECTIVES 

76. Pronominal Adjectives fall, according to their mean- 
ing, into the following classes : — 

(1) The possessive forms of the personal pronouns have 
the value of adjectives, and are by many grammarians 
called Possessive Adjectives : My book. Your pencil. 

64 



Pronominal Adjectives 65 

(2) The interrogatives which and what are used as 
Interrogative Adjectives : Which book do you want ? What 
answer did he make ? 

(3) Which and what are also used as Relative Adjectives : 
He was two years in Germany, during which time he heard 
the lectures of several famous scholars. He spent what 
money he had. 

The Compound Relatives, whatever, whichever, etc. (not whoever), are 
used as adjectives, and may then be called Indefinite Relative Adjectives ; 
but it would be better to call them simply Indefinite Adjectives : — 

Whichever road he takes, he will find it bad. 

(4) The Demonstrative Adjectives are this (plural these), 
that (plural those), yon, and yonder: These men. That 
tree. Those friends of yours. Yonder ivy-mantled tower. 
Yon glittering star. 

These and those are the only adjectives in English that show inflec- 
tion for number. Yon and yonder are not used as pronouns. 

(5) One, any, some, no, every, other, another, both, many, 
several, few, all, much, little, either, neither, former, latter, 
each, such, — many of which have already been described 
as indefinite pronouns, — may be used as adjectives, and 
are then called Indefinite Pronominal Adjectives: — 

Both horses were stolen. 

Such men are dangerous. 

Many men, many minds. 

Every member of the class was present. 

Each day brings its pleasures. 

No man knoweth his sepulchre. 

Note. — Many a, as in "I have heard it many a time," may be 
taken together and parsed as one adjective. Though it is plural in 
meaning, it is singular in form, and requires always a singular noun. 



66 English Grammar 

(6) The adjectives a or an and the are called Articles. 
A, an, is called the Indefinite Article. 

An is used before words beginning with a vowel sound, and often 
before h in unaccented syllables, as in historical, where h is scarcely 
heard. A, a dipt form of an, is used before words beginning with a 
consonant sound : — 

A tree. An apple. A history. A horse. A university. An his- 
torical novel. An heroic deed. 

The indefinite article is from old English an, which gives also our 
numeral one. " A child " means any one of the class " children." 

Note i. — The indefinite article is used idiomatically with few, great 
many, hundred, etc., to form an adjective phrase limiting nouns in the 
plural: A few days. A great ?nany words. A hundred times. The 
pronominal use, on the other hand, of few, etc., is seen in: A few of 
my friends. A great many of them. 

Note 2. — The a in asleep, a-fishing, aboard, is not the article, but 
a reduced form of the preposition on. 

The is called the Definite Article. It is a weakened 
form of an old English demonstrative which survives in the 
modern that, and it retains a pronominal {i.e. reference) 
force in almost all of its modern uses. These uses are as 
follows : — 

1. It marks a thing as already described, or mentioned, or other- 
wise sufficiently known to the hearer or reader : The sun. The Atlan- 
tic. Give me the change. 

2. It marks a thing to be explained by some following word, phrase, 
or clause: The next day. The earliest opportunity. The book you 
asked for. 

3. It is sometimes used with the singular of a class-noun to denote 
that the whole class is meant: The fool hath said in his heart, 
there is no God. The mocking-bird is sometimes called the American 
nightingale. 

Note. — In such sentences as, "The longer the day, the shorter 
the night," the before longer and shorter is not the article, nor an 



Comparison 67 

adjective at all. It is an old case of the demonstrative pronoun that, 
modifying the comparative to which it is prefixed, and means by that : 
By that the day is longer, by that the night is shorter. The in this 
construction is to be parsed as an adverb. 



EXERCISE 48 
Compose and write : — 

1. A sentence containing one or more cardinals. 

2. A sentence containing one or more ordinals. 

3. A sentence containing a demonstrative adjective. 

4. A sentence containing an interrogative adjective. 

5. A sentence containing a relative adjective. 

6. Sentences containing the following indefinite adjectives : every, 
each, no, either, neither. 

7. A sentence containing a and an. 

8. A sentence containing the before a noun in the singular to repre- 
sent a class. 

9. A sentence containing the adverb the before comparatives. 

COMPARISON 

77. With the exception of this and that, which form the 
plurals these, those, adjectives have in English no inflection 
for gender, number, or case. Most adjectives, however, 
have an inflection to distinguish degrees of the quality or 
quantity indicated. This is called Comparison. 

There are three degrees of comparison : Positive, Com- 
parative, Superlative. 

The simple adjective, without inflection, is said to be in 
the Positive Degree : sweet, hard, tall. 

The form of the adjective used in comparing one object 
with another is called the Comparative Degree : sweeter, 
harder, taller ; he is taller than I am. 



68 



English Grammar 



The form of the adjective which is used to denote the 
quality or quantity in the greatest degree is called the Su- 
perlative Degree : sweetest, hardest, tallest ; he is the tallest 
man I ever saw. 

78. The comparative degree is commonly formed by 
adding er to the simple adjective, and the superlative by 
adding est, as in the examples given above. 

The comparative and superlative degrees of some adjec- 
tives are formed by the use of the adverbs more, most, to 
avoid the formation of long and clumsy words ; thus the 
comparative of beautiful is more beautiful, not beautifuller. 
Some adjectives may be compared in both ways : clearer 
or more clear. 

Another way of comparing adjectives is by means of 
the adverbs less and least: less beautiful, least beautiful. 

79. The following adj ectives are irregularly compared : — 



F 


'osii 


'ive 


Comparative 


Superlative 


good 






better 


best 


bad, evil, 


ill 


worse 


worst 


far 






farther, further 


farthest, furthest 


little 






less, lesser 


least 


much, 


many 


more 


most 


late 






later, latter 


latest, last 


near 






nearer 


nearest, next 


nigh 






nigher 


nighest, next 


old 






older, elder 


oldest, eldest 


hind 






hinder 


hindmost, hindermost 









inner 


inmost, innermost 









outer 


outmost, outermost 









utter 


utmost, uttermost 









upper 


upmost, uppermost 









former 


foremost, first 



Comparison 69 

Some adjectives cannot, because of their meaning, be compared. 
Such are wooden, golden, sufficient, inimitable, square, perfect, and the 
like. Many of them, however, are often loosely used in the compara- 
tive and superlative. In the Bible we read : " A more perfect knowl- 
edge" ; and in Milton, u chief est? etc. 

80. The adjective with the definite article is often used 
without a noun ; the adjective is then parsed as a noun : 
The rich are not always happy. None but the brave de- 
serves the fair. 

81. Nouns in English are not infrequently used with 
the force of adjectives : The angel choir. Sunday papers. 
A country boy. A gold ring. 

EXERCISE 49 
Compose and write : — 

1. A sentence containing a comparative. 

2. A sentence containing a superlative. 

3. A sentence containing a comparative formed with more. 

4. A sentence containing a superlative formed with most. 

5. A sentence containing the comparative of good and bad. 

6. A sentence containing an adjective used as a noun. 

7. A sentence containing a noun used as an adjective. 

8. A sentence containing an adjective that cannot be compared. 

REVIEW 

Point out the adjectives, tell to which class each belongs, 
and with what noun or pronoun it is to be construed : — 

1. Man's feeble race what ills await ! 

2. He fed the hungry and clothed the poor. 

3. Great is Diana of the Ephesians ! 



yo English Grammar 

4. The One remains, the many change and pass. 

5 . Unto the pure all things are pure. 

6. Every seventh year was held sacred by the Jewish people. 

7. The needy traveller, serene and gay, 

Walks the wide heath, and sings his toil away. 

8. Happy ! ah, ten times happy had I been, 

If Hampton-Court these eyes had never seen 

9. Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, 
Muttering his wayward fancies, he would rove. 

10. This seraph band, each waved his hand, 
No voice did they impart. 

11. My loved, my honored, much respected friend ! 

No mercenary bard his homage pays, 
With honest pride I scorn each selfish end, 
My dearest meed, a friend's esteem and praise. 

12. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, 

Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, 
Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 

13. That low man seeks a little thing to do, 

Sees it and does it; 
This high man, with a great thing to pursue, 
Dies ere he knows it. 

14. Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, 
Or by the lazy Scheld or wandering Po ; 
Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor 
Against the houseless stranger shuts the door ; 
Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies ; 

A weary waste expanding to the skies ; 
Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, 
My heart, untravelled, fondly turns to thee. 



CHAPTER XI 

VERBS 

82. The Verb says something of a subject. It expresses 
either an act or a state. 

Some verbs are used in the expression of both act and 
state, with a difference of meaning : — 

He looked calmly on (act). He looked calm (state). 

I felt his pulse (act). \felt sleepy (state). 

83. Verbs may be divided into two classes, Transitive 
and Intransitive. 

A Transitive Verb is one that takes an object : That boy 
struck my dog. Wo. found his book. I shot a hawk. 

An Intransitive Verb is one that does not take an 
object: The horse ran off. The rain fell in torrents. 
There it lies. 

In intransitive verbs the act is confined to the subject; 
in transitive verbs the act passes over to some object (hence 
the name transitive, " passing over "). 

84. Many transitive verbs are used intransitively : The 
chain broke. The smoke lifted from the field. The color 
does not show well by lamp-light. 

On the other hand, some intransitive verbs are also used 
transitively. He ran a splinter in his hand. Walk your 
horses over this bridge. The farmer grows wheat in this 
field. His brother sailed the boat into port. 

71 



72 English Grammar- 

Many intransitive verbs take an object of kindred meaning, but are 
not to be parsed as transitive verbs : To die the death of the righteous. 
He has slept his last sleep. I dreamed a fearful dream. This is called 
the Cognate Object. 

85. The verb be has a peculiar value. In the sentence 
" Tom is industrious," the adjective industrious is what 
is said of Tom, and the verb is really says nothing; it 
expresses neither an act nor a state. Yet without the is 
we have no sentence ; " Tom industrious " makes no state- 
ment about Tom. Thus we arrive at the true value of be. 
It enables us to make an assertion out of a noun or an ad- 
jective, though it contains no meaning of itself. In "Tom 
works," works is a verb, expressing an act ; in " Tom is 
industrious," is is a verb, giving the form of assertion, but 
asserts nothing until it is completed by the word that tells 
us what Tom is. Because of its office of connecting the 
subject with the essential predicate, it is often called the 
copula, and the word that completes the predicate is called 
the complement. 

Other verbs that have this copulative function are seem, 
become, and, sometimes, many other verbs such as appear, 
look, feel, taste, grow, turn. These verbs differ from be in 
having a certain meaning of their own, but are like it in 
requiring some other word to make a complete predicate. 
Thus in "Arnold turned traitor," turned denotes action, 
but is not ^complete without the noun traitor, and, in so far ? 
serves as copula between Arnold and traitor. 

The complement after these verbs always refers to the 
subject, and is carefully to be distinguished from the object 
of a transitive verb. In " Caesar was consul," consul is not 
the object of was, for was denotes no action and can there- 
fore have no object. Nor is traitor in the example above 
the object of turned, for turned does not here represent an 



Verbs 73 

action as going over to anything else. The noun or pro- 
noun complement after these verbs is in the same case as 
the subject, the nominative, and is therefore called the 
Predicate Nominative. Adjectives so used are said to be 
in the predicate construction, or are called simply Predicate 
Adjectives. The verb, of course, is always intransitive. 

86. Some transitive verbs, also, take besides the object 
a complementary noun or adjective, which, with the verb, 
gives a different meaning from that of the simple verb. 
Thus in " He made the stick straight," we do not mean 
that he made the stick, but that he straightened it. Stick, 
then, is the object, not of made, but of the whole verb- 
notion expressed by made and the complementary adjec- 
tive straight. Similarly in " Your generosity makes all 
men your friends," men is the object, not of makes, but of 
makes your friends. The complementary word in this con- 
struction always refers to the object; whence it is called 
the Objective Complement, and, if a noun or pronoun, is 
always in the objective case. 

Some verbs that are otherwise intransitive may take an 
object when their meaning is changed by an objective com- 
plement word or phrase. The predicate so formed is 
sometimes called the "factitive predicate " : — 

A female atheist talks you dead. 
He walked himself footsore. 
I have run myself out of breath. 

Sometimes prepositional phrases that can hardly be 
classed as objective complement serve nevertheless to 
make intransitive verbs transitive ; for example : — 

He talked me to death. 
They laughed him to scorn. 



74 English Grammar 

87. Transitive verbs have two forms of expression. 
We may say, " John broke the glass " or " The glass 
was broken by John." The meaning is the same ; the 
difference is only in the way it is said. This difference 
in the form of expression is called Voice. In the first 
sentence the verb is in the Active Voice ; in the second, 
the verb is in the Passive Voice. 

The Active Voice represents the subject as acting : 
Henry struck James. 

The Passive Voice represents the subject as acted upon : 
James was struck by Henry. 

In changing the form of expression from the active to 
the passive voice, it will be seen that the object of the verb 
in the active voice becomes the subject of the verb in the 
passive. 

88. As intransitive verbs have no object, they cannot be 
used in the passive voice. Yet the verbs made transitive 
by an objective complement admit the passive construc- 
tion, except when the object is reflexive : — 

He was talked to death. 
He was laughed to scorn. 

Further, the object of a preposition after intransitive 
verbs, as in — 

They laughed at him, 

may be made the subject of the verb in the passive con- 
struction, the preposition being retained as an adverb, 
thus : — 

He was laughed at. 

It is the direct object of the action that is made the subject of the 
passive ; but English usage goes so far as to allow the indirect object 
also to become the subject of the passive construction : — 



Verbs 75 

a. They gave him a dinner. 

b. A dinner was given him. 

c. He was given a dinner. 

In the last example dinner, the direct object of the action, is retained 
after the passive, and may be called therefore retained object. 

EXERCISE 50 

Classify the verbs according to meaning : — 

i. Robert shot three pigeons yesterday. 2. How soon will the moon 
rise ? 3. He called, but no one answered. 4. Alice has received a 
letter from her cousin. 5. The hunter called his dog and walked away. 
6. The sun is shining brightly. 7. Ruth found two eggs in the barn. 
8. Her brother has painted his top. 9. Moles live in the ground. 
10. They are sometimes caught in traps. 11. The farmer sows wheat 
in the spring. 12. This pear tree was planted by my grandfather. 
13. I have fought the good fight. 14. When did you see Henry last ? 
15. The postmaster is my uncle. 16. Have you been to the fair? 
17. The fair will be held in our town next year. 18. She looked scorn- 
fully at him. 19. Listen to me. 20. Jane wrote a long letter. 
21 . Leaves fall when cold weather comes. 22. The crocus blooms early 
in the spring. 23. The cook burnt the bread. 24. Was the driver much 
hurt ? 25. The town was almost destroyed by fire. 26. The roads 
are muddy. 27. The Spanish were defeated in the battle of Manila. 
28. The days are growing shorter. 29. He turned everything upside 
down. 30. The thief turned and fled. 31. He was refused admit- 
tance. 32. She was denied a hearing. 33. He ate himself sick. 
34. The rose smells sweet. 35. The cider tastes bitter. 

EXERCISE 51 
Compose and write : — 

1. A sentence containing a transitive verb. 

2. A sentence containing an intransitive verb. 

3. Two sentences containing copula and complement. 

4. A sentence containing an intransitive verb with cognate object. 



English Grammar 

5. A sentence containing a factitive predicate and objective comple- 
ment. 

6. A sentence with a verb in the active voice. 

7. A sentence with the same verb in the passive voice. 

8. A sentence containing both the active and the passive voice. 

9. A sentence with " retained object " after the passive voice. 

89. To verbs belong Mood, Tense, Number, and Person. 

MOOD 

90. We have seen that a verb says something of a sub- 
ject. The manner in which it says this is called the Mood. 

The Finite Verb (that is, the verb which has a subject) 
has three moods : the Indicative, the Subjunctive, and the 
Imperative. 

The Infinitive, which has no subject, is also generally, though im- 
properly, called a Mood. 

91. The Indicative Mood says something of its subject in 
a positive manner, as if it were a fact, or asks a question 

directly : — 

Tom broke his arm. 

The cow jiunped over the moon. 

Is your father at home ? 

92. The Subjunctive Mood says something of the subject 
in a less positive manner, as assumed or merely thought of, 
usually in the expression of a wish or an unreal condition : — 

God bless our native land ! 

If I were you I would not do that. 

Thy kingdom come ! 

93. The Imperative Mood is the mood of command or 
entreaty. Its subject is always in the second person, but 
is not expressed except for emphasis or contrast : — 



Tense 77 

Call me early in the morning. 

Send me three copies of yesterday's Herald. 

You come here, you go there. 

Go thou and do likewise. 

EXERCISE 52 

Tell the mood of each verb : — 

1. All that glitters is not gold. 2. Come when you are called. 
3. Three black crows sat on a tree. 4. Now good digestion wait on 
appetite, and health on both! 5. Ruin seize thee, ruthless king. 
6. Were I Brutus, and Brutus Antony, there were an Antony would 
ruffle up your spirits. 7. God send me a better prince ! 8. Let him 
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 9. Ring out, ye bells, 
across the snow ! 10. Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend ! 

11. This generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled. 

12. God grant that she be safe ! 

EXERCISE 53 
Compose and write : — 

1. A declarative sentence with the verb in the indicative mood. 

2. An interrogative sentence with the verb in the indicative mood. 

3. A sentence with the verb in the subjunctive mood expressing a 
wish. 

4. A sentence with the verb in the past subjunctive expressing a 
condition. 

5. A sentence containing the imperative mood with a subject 
expressed. 

6. A sentence containing the imperative mood without a subject 
expressed. 

TENSE 

94. Tense, in grammar, means time. But tense implies 
two things : — 

(a) The time of the action. 

(b) The stage of the action (complete or incomplete) . 



y8 English Grammar 

As there are only three divisions of time, — past, present, and future, 
— if tense implied time only there would be but three tenses, since 
every action must be referred to the present, or to the past, or to the 
future. But it is important also to represent the action as either con- 
tinued or complete in the present, or the past, or the future ; hence, we 
find needful two tenses for each division of time, making six tenses : 
Present and Present Perfect, Past and Past Perfect, Future and Future 
Perfect. 

The Present Tense represents an action as now going 

on : — 

I a?n writing. Do you see him? He reads well. 

The Present Perfect Tense represents an action as now 
finished : — 

I have written my exercise. 

John has been reading aloud to his sister. 

The Past Tense represents an action that took place in 
the past : — 

I wrote to my father yesterday. 

Did you see the procession ? 

No, I was studying when it went by. 

The Past Perfect Tense represents an action as completed 
with reference to some other past action : — 

I had already written when your letter came. 

He had been waiting there an hour when you saw him. 

The Future Tense represents an action as taking place 
in the future : — 

He will come to-morrow. 

You will be studying Latin by this time next year. 

The Future Perfect Tense represents an action to be 
completed at the time of some other action in the future : — 

I shall have finished by the time you return. 

Mother will have been travelling two days when she reaches St. Louis. 



Tense 



79 



95. It will be seen that although we have but six tenses, 
there are more than six tense-forms. 

Thus in the present tense, besides the simple form I write, which may 
be called the present indefinite, there is the form made up of the auxiliary 
be and the present participle, I a?n writing, which is called the present 
continuous, and that made up of the auxiliary do and the infinitive, 
/ do write, used in three ways : for emphasis (" I do write "), in asking 
questions (" Does he write? "), and with the adverb not (" He does not 
write ") . 

The past tense has three forms corresponding to those of the present, 
with the same distinctions of meaning. 

The future tense and all three of the perfect tenses have two forms. 

The future has an indefinite (I shall write), and a continuous (I 
shall be writing). The perfect tenses have the complete forms (I have 
written, I had written, I shall have written), and the continuous forms 
(I have been writing, I had been writing, I shall have been writing). 
The forms with do are found only in the present and past tenses. 

96. In the conjugation of the verb (106) only the simplest 
(indefinite or complete) form of each tense will be given ; 
but the other forms may readily be constructed from the 
following table : — 

f I write (indefinite) 
f Present \ I am writing (continuous) 

Present J I I do write (emphatic) 

I Present Perfect j l have written (complete) 

I I have been writing (continuous) 

I wrote (indefinite) 

I was writing (continuous) 

I did write (emphatic) 

j I had written (complete) 

I I had been writing (continuous) 

| I shall write (indefinite) 

| I shall be writing (continuous) 

r I shall have written (complete) 

\ I shall have been writing (con- 

l tinuous) 



Tense 



Past 



Future 



Past 



Past Perfect 



Future 



Future Perfect 



80 English Grammar 

EXERCISE 54 

Tell the tense of each verb : — 

i. The frost has killed the flowers. 2. The leaves will soon fall. 
3. Last year they fell a month earlier than this. 4. Does the fire burn 
well? 5. It burned well this morning, but it is not burning well now. 
6. They will have the chimney cleaned to-morrow. 7. He has been 
studying all the afternoon. 8. Has he learned his lesson ? 9. He did 
not know his lesson this morning, because he had not studied it. 
10. He was playing ball when I saw him last. 11. I know the house 
you mean. 12. The train had just left when we reached the station. 
13. I shall tell him so when I see him. 14. You will not know him, 
he has changed so much. 15. If you do not write at once, he will 
have started before your letter reaches him. 

EXERCISE 55 
Compose and write : — 

1. Three sentences showing the three forms of the present tense. 

2. Three sentences showing the three forms of the past tense. 

3. Two sentences showing the two forms of the future tense. 

4. A sentence containing the present perfect tense. 

5. A sentence containing the past perfect tense. 

6. A sentence containing the future perfect tense. 

PERSON AND NUMBER 

97. Verbs are said to be in the Singular or in the Plural 
Number according as the subject is singular or plural, and 
in the First, Second, or Third Person, according as the 
subject is in the first, second, or third person. 

Thus know in " I know him well " is in the first person and in the 
singular number, because its subject / is the singular of the pronoun 
of the first person ; comes in " Night comes swiftly on " is in the third 
person and in the singular number, because its subject night is in that 
person and number. 



The Infinitive 81 

The verb in English has only a few forms left which indicate number 
and person ; the rule, therefore, that a verb must agree with its subject 
in person and number has only a limited application. With the excep- 
tion of the verb be modern English has, outside the language of prayer 
and poetry (where we find such expressions as " Thou lovest," " He 
cometh not"), only one inflection that marks person and number, 
namely, the ending s of the third person singular of the present 
tense: He sees. He knows. He understands. 

THE INFINITIVE 

98. The Infinitive is a Verbal Noun, that is, it is a word 
expressing an action or condition indicated by the verb, but 
not predicating it of any subject. Having no subject, it is 
not limited in person and number as the Finite Verb is, 
and for that reason is called the Infinitive (iiot limited). 
It has, however, the other characteristics of a verb ; if 
transitive, it takes an object, and it is modified by adverbs, 
not by adjectives : — 

To die is not the worst that can befall us. 
She asked him to write plainly. 

99. The Infinitive commonly has the word to before it; 
but this is not essential, for there are some verbs which 
take a dependent infinitive without to. In the following 
sentences the words in italics are infinitives : — 

I heard him say it. 

Let him come in. 

I saw the flagstaff fall. 

I felt the rain strike on my face. 

He could not go. 

100. The Infinitive is without mood, number, or person, 
but has two tenses, present and perfect, and in the case of 
transitive verbs, is found in both active and passive voice. 



82 English Grammar 

There is another kind of verbal noun, ending, like the present parti- 
ciple, in -ing, but easily distinguished from the participle by its use, 
which is always that of a noun : Flying kites is good sport. Playing is 
easier than working. Spinning tops is that boy's delight. 

PARTICIPLES 

101. The Participle is a Verbal Adjective. It differs 
from other adjectives in that it may take an object or a 
complement. It is called a participle because it partici- 
pates in the nature both of verbs and of adjectives, having 
the meaning of the former and the use of the latter. 

102. There are two Participles in English : the Present 
and the Perfect. So the verb write has the Present Parti- 
ciple writing, and the Perfect Participle written. 

EXERCISE 56 
Point out the infinitives and the participles : — 

i. Seeing a dark cloud coming up, I turned back. 2. Such a strik- 
ing resemblance is not often seen. 3. He caught the dog killing a 
chicken. 4. We could not face the blinding snow. 5. Are you ready 
to go? 6. Bid him come hither at once. 7. The keeper made the 
bear dance. 8. To hesitate now is to confess ourselves defeated. 
9. To err is human, to forgive divine. 10. His mother refused to let 
him go. 11. I love to watch the clouds go sailing by. 12. The 
melted snow made the walk muddy. 13. Viewed in that light, his 
conduct is without excuse. 14. They saw once more his well-remem- 
bered face. 15. Lost hours can never be recovered. 16. I asked him 
to let me mend his torn kite. 17. A rolling stone gathers no moss. 
18. To know how to read well is a desirable accomplishment. 19. To 
have known such a man is honor enough for you and me. 20. Alice 
tried to learn the poem by heart. 21. Just then a soldier went gallop- 
ing by. 22. Having seen him once, I can never forget him. 23. He 
lived retired from the busy world, devoted to study and meditation. 
24. The day dawning fair, we arose early. 



Conjugation 83 

EXERCISE 57 
Compose and write : — 

1 . A sentence with an infinitive as subject. 

2. A sentence with an infinitive as object. 

3. Three sentences with infinitive without to. 

4. A sentence containing a present participle. 

5 . A sentence containing a verbal noun in -ing. 

6. A sentence containing both a present participle and a verbal 
noun. 

CONJUGATION 

103. To conjugate a verb is to give all its forms and 
parts — Voice, Mood, Tense, Number, and Person — sys- 
tematically arranged. 

104. The conjugation of the verb be is as follows : — 

Indicative Mood 

Present Tense Present Perfect Tense 





Singular Plural 


Singular Plural 


I. 


I am We are 


I have been We have been 


2. 


Thou art You are 


Thou hast been You have been 


3- 


He is They are 


He has been They have been 




Past Tense 


Past Perfect Tense 


1. 


I was We were 


I had been We had been 


2. 


Thou wast (wert) You were 


Thou hadst been You had been 


3- 


He was They were 


He had been They had been 




Future Tense 




Singular 


Plural 




1 . I shall be 


We shall be 




2. Thou wilt be 


You will be 




3. He will be 


They will be 



8 4 



English Grammar 



i . I shall have been 

2. Thou wilt have been 

3. He will have been 



Future Perfect Tense 

We shall have been 
You will have been 
They will have been 



Subjunctive Mood 



Present Tense 
Singular Plural 

io I be We be 

2. Thou be You be 

3. He be They be 



Past Tense 

Singular Plural 

I were We were 

Thou wert You were 

He were They were 



Imperative Mood 

Singular Plural 

2. Be (thou) Be (you, ye) 



Participles 



Present. 
Perfect. 



Being 
Been 



Infinitives 

Be, to be 

Have been, to have been 



105. The conjugation of the verb have is as follows : — 

Indicative Mood 
Present Tense Present Perfect Tense 





Singular 


Plural 


Singular 


Plural 


I. 

2. 

3- 


I have 
Thou hast 
He has 


We have 
You have 
They have 


I have had 
Thou hast had 
He has had 


We have had 
You have had 
They have had 




Past Tense 


Past Perfect Tense 


1. 

2. 
3- 


lhad 

Thou hadst 
He had 


We had 
You had 
They had 


I had had 
Thou hadst had 
He had had 


We had had 
You had had 
They had had 



Conjugation 8 5 





Future Tense 


Singular 


Plural 


1 . I shall have 


We shall have 


2. Thou wilt have 


You will have 


3. He will have 


They will have 



Future Perfect Tense 

1. I shall have had We shall have had 

2. Thou wilt have had You will have had 

3. He will have had They will have had 

Subjunctive Mood 
Present Tense Past Tense 

Singular Plural Singular Plural 

1. I have We have I had We had 

2. Thou have You have Thouhadst 1 You had 

3. He have They have He had They had 

Imperative Mood 

Singular Plural 

2. Have (thou) Have (you, ye) 

Participles Infinitives 

Present. Having Have, to have 

Perfect. Had Have had, to have had 

1 This is the indicative, used for the subjunctive in Modern English. 



86 English Grammar 

106. Conjugation of the verb love : — 



Active Voice 


Indicative Mood 

Passive Voice 
Present Tense 


i. 


I love 


Singular 


I am loved 


2. 


Thou lovest 




Thou art loved 


3- 


He loves 




He is loved 


i. 


We love 


Plural 


We are loved 


2, 


You love 




You are loved 


3- 


They love 




They are loved 




Pbesent Perfect Tense 


i. 


I have loved 


Singular 


I have been loved 


2. 


Thou hast loved 




Thou hast been loved 


3° 


He has loved 




He has been loved 


i. 


We have loved 


Plural 


We have been loved 


2. 


You have loved 




You have been loved 


3- 


They have loved 




They have been loved 






Past Tense 


i. 


I loved 


Singular 


I was loved 


2, 


Thou lovedst 




Thou wast loved 


3- 


He loved 




He was loved 


i. 


We loved 


Plural 


We were loved 


2. 


You loved 




You were loved 


3- 


They loved 




They were loved 




Past Perfect Tense 


I. 


I had loved 


Singular 


I had been loved 


2. 


Thou hadst loved 




Thou hadst been loved 


3 


He had loved 




He had been loved 



Conjugation 



87 



Active Voice 

1. We had loved 

2. You had loved 

3. They had loved 



Passive Voice 



Plural 



We had been loved 
You had been loved 
They had been loved 



1. I shall love 

2. Thou wilt love 
\ He will love 



Future Tense 
Singular 



I shall be loved 
Thou wilt be loved 
He will be loved 



1 . We shall love 

2. You will love 

3. They will love 



Plural 



We shall be loved 
You will be loved 
They will be loved 



Future Perfect Tense 
Singular 
1 . I shall have loved I shall have been loved 



2. Thou wilt have loved 

3. He will have loved 



1. We shall have loved 

2. You will have loved 

3. They will have loved 



Thou wilt have been loved 
He will have been loved 

Plural 

We shall have been loved 
You will have been loved 
They will have been loved 







Subjunctive Mood 






Present Tense 






Singular 






love 




I be loved 




Thou love 




Thou be loved 


3- 


He love 




He be loved 



88 



English Grammar 



Active Voice 

i . We love 

2. You love 

3. They love 



1. I loved 

2. Thou loved 

3. He loved 

1 . We loved 

2. You loved 

3. They loved 



Plural 



Passive Voice 

We be loved 
You be loved 
They be loved 



Past Tense 
Singular 



Plural 



I were loved 
Thou wert loved 
He were loved 



We were loved 
You were loved 
They were loved 



Present Perfect Tense 



1. I have loved 

2. Thou have loved 

3. He have loved 

1 . We have loved 

2. You have loved 

3. They have loved 



Singular 



Plural 



I have been loved 
Thou have been loved 
He have been loved 



We have been loved 
You have been loved 
They have been loved 



Past Perfect Tense 



1. I had loved 

2. Thou hadst loved 1 

3. He had loved 

1. We had loved 

2. You had loved 

3. They had loved 



Singular 



Plural 



1 See 105. 



I had been loved 

Thou hadst been loved 1 

He had been loved 



We had been loved 
You had been loved 
They had been loved 



Conjugation 89 

Imperative Mood 
Active Voice Passive Voice 

Singular 
2. Love (thou) Be (thou loved) 

Plural 
2. Love (you, ye) Be (you, ye) loved 

Participles 
Present 
Loving Being loved 

Perfect 
Having loved Loved, having been loved 

Infinitives 
Present 
Love, to love Be loved, to be loved 

Perfect 
Have loved, to have loved Have been loved, to have been loved 

The older form of the third person singular present indicative, end- 
ing in thy is found in poetry and in the Bible : He cometh. The second 
person singular (lovest) is found in older literature, in poetry, and in 
prayer. Modern English uses instead the plural, you love. 

In earlier English the present perfect and past perfect tenses of in- 
transitive verbs were regularly formed by means of the auxiliary be 
instead of have : He w come. They are gone. He was come. These 
forms are still found in poetry and sometimes in prose. 

EXERCISE 58 
Compose and write : — 

1 . A sentence with the verb in the indicative mood, passive voice, 
past tense, third person, singular number. 

2. A sentence with the verb in the subjunctive mood, passive voice, 
past tense, first person, singular number. 



9° 



English Grammar 



3. A sentence with the verb in the indicative mood, active voice, 
future tense, first person, plural number. 

4. A sentence with the verb in the imperative mood, active voice, 
second person, plural number. 

5. A sentence containing a present passive participle. 

6. A sentence containing a perfect passive infinitive. 

STRONG AND WEAK VERBS 

107. Verbs are classified, according to the way in which 
they form the past tense and perfect participle, into two 
conjugations : the Strong Conjugation and the Weak 
Conjugation. 

I. Verbs of the Strong Conjugation form the past tense 
by changing the vowel without adding anything ; and the 
perfect participle, sometimes by change of vowel, some- 
times by adding n or en, and sometimes by both means : 
sing, sang, sung; know, knew, known; rise, rose, risen; 
break, broke, broken. 

LIST OF STRONG VERBS 

Many of these verbs have also forms of the weak conjugation, either 
taking the place of strong forms, or existing side by side with them. In 
the list, weak forms are enclosed in parentheses : — 



resent Tense 


Pasi 


' Tense 


Perfect Participle 


abide 


abode 




abode 


arise 


arose 




arisen 


awake 


awoke 


(awaked) 


awoke (awaked) 


be 


[was] 




been 


bear 


bore 




borne, born 


beat 


beat 




beaten 


begin 


began 




begun 


behold 


beheld 




beheld 


bid 


bade, bid 


bid, bidden 



List of Strong Verbs 



y resent Tense 


Past Tense 


Perfect Participle 


bind 


. bound 


bound 


bite 


bit 


bit, bitten 


blow 


blew 


blown 


break 


broke 


broken 


choose 


chose 


chosen 


cleave (to split) 


clove (cleft) 


cloven (cleft) 


cling 


clung 


clung 


come 


came 


come 


crow 


crew (crowed) 


(crowed) 


dig 


dug 


dug 


do 


did 


done 


draw 


drew 


drawn 


drink 


drank 


drunk 


drive 


drove 


driven 


eat 


ate 


eaten 


fall 


fell 


fallen 


%ht 


fought 


fought 


find 


found 


found 


fling 


flung 


flung 


fly 


flew 


flown 


forbear 


forbore 


forborne 


forget 


forgot 


forgotten 


forsake 


forsook 


forsaken 


freeze 


froze 


frozen 


get 


got 


got, gotten 


give 


gave 


given 


go 


[went] 


gone 


grind 


ground 


ground 


grow 


grew 


grown 


hang 


hung (hanged) 


hung (hanged) 


heave 


hove (heaved) 


hove (heaved) 


hold 


held 


held 


know 


knew 


known 


lie 


lay 


lain 


ride 


rode 


ridden 


ring 


rang 


rung 


rise 


rose 


risen 


run 


ran 


run 



9 2 



English Grammar 



Present Tense 


Past Tense 


Perfect Participle 


see 


saw 


seen 


shake 


shook 


shaken 


shear 


(sheared) 


shorn (sheared) 


shine 


shone 


shone 


shoot 


shot 


shot 


shrink 


shrank 


shrunk 


shrive 


shrove (shrived) 


shriven (shrived) 


sing 


sang 


sung 


sink 


sank 


sunk 


sit 


sat 


sat 


slay 


slew 


slain 


sling 


slung 


N slung 


slink 


slunk 


slunk 


smite 


smote 


smitten 


speak 


spoke 


spoken 


spin 


spun 


spun 


spring 


sprang 


sprung 


stand 


stood 


stood 


stave 


stove (staved) 


stove (staved) 


steal 


stole 


stolen 


stick 


stuck 


stuck 


sting 


stung 


stung 


stink 


stunk 


stunk 


stride 


strode 


stridden 


strike 


struck 


struck, stricken 


string 


strung 


strung 


strive 


strove 


striven 


swear 


swore 


sworn 


swim 


swam 


swum 


swing 


swung 


swung 


take 


took 


taken 


tear 


tore 


torn 


thrive 


throve (thrived) 


thriven (thrived) 


throw 


threw 


thrown 


tread 


trod 


trodden, trod 


wake 


woke (waked) 


(waked) 


wear 


wore 


worn 


weave 


wove 


woven 



Strong and Weak Verbs 93 



:ent Tense 


Past Tense 


Perfect Participle 


win 


won 


won 


wind 


wound 


wound 


wring 


wrung 


wrung 


write 


wrote 


written 



Notes. — Climb has also an older past tense, clomb, often found in 
poetry. 

Borne is the perfect participle of bear, except in the sense " give 
birth to," in which case the participle is born. 

Eat has, besides the past tense ate, a form eat (et), often found in 
literature and in spoken English. 

Instead of the forms shrank, sang, sank, sprang, swam, in the past 
tense, forms with u {shrunk, etc.) are sometimes met with. 

Hanged, in the past tense and perfect participle, is used only in the 
sense "put to death on the gallows." 

The following forms of the perfect participle are now used only as 
adjectives : bounden, drunken, sunken. 

Went, past tense of go, is borrowed from the weak verb wend. Was, 
used as past tense of be, is from an obsolete verb wesan. 

II. Weak Conjugation. — Weak Verbs form the past 
tense and perfect participle by adding ed, d, or t to the 
form of the present infinitive, generally without change of 
vowel : call, called, called ; love, loved, loved ; burn, burnt, 
burnt. 

Verbs of this conjugation are mostly regular, that is, 
when they end in silent e they add d (love-d), otherwise ed 
(call-ed). The irregular weak verbs may be divided into 
two classes : — 

(a) Those that add d or t, usually with change of vowel. 

(b) Those that, ending in d or t in the present tense, take 
no additional d or t, though they sometimes change d to t, 
and often shorten the vowel. 

In the following list, the verbs marked * are also regular. The 
regular forms are often to be preferred to the irregular ; thus leaned is 
preferable to leant. 



94 



English Grammar 



LIST OF IRREGULAR WEAK VERBS 



Class (a) 



Present Tense 


Past Tense 


Perfect Participle 


* bereave 


bereft 


bereft 


beseech 


besought 


besought 


bring 


brought 


brought 


*burn 


burnt 


burnt 


buy 


bought 


bought 


catch 


caught 


caught 


creep 


crept 


crept 


* dare 


durst 


dared 


deal 


dealt 


dealt 


* dream 


dreamt 


dreamt 


dwell 


dwelt 


dwelt 


feel 


felt 


felt 


flee 


fled 


fled 


have 


had 


had 


hear 


heard 


heard 


hide 


hid 


hid (hidden) 


keep 


kept 


kept 


kneel 


knelt 


knelt 


lay 


laid 


laid 


* lean 


leant 


leant 


*leap 


leapt 


leapt 


leave 


left 


left 


lose 


lost 


lost 


make 


made 


made 


mean 


meant 


meant 


pay 


paid 


paid 


say 


said 


said 


seek 


sought 


sought 


sell 


sold 


sold 


shoe 


shod 


shod 


sleep 


slept 


slept 


* spell 


spelt 


spelt 


* spill 


spilt 


spilt 


sweep 


swept 


swept 



List of Irregular Weak Verbs 



95 



Present Tense 


Past Tense 


Perfect Participle 


teach 


taught 


taught 


tell 


told 


told 


think 


thought 


thought 


weep 


wept 


wept 


* work 


wrought 
Class (3) 


wrought 


bend 


bent 


bent 


*bet 


bet 


bet 


bleed 


bled 


bled 


* blend 


blent 


blent 


breed 


bred 


bred 


* build 


built 


built 


burst 


burst 


burst 


cast 


cast 


cast 


chide 


chid 


chid (chidden) 


cost 


cost 


cost 


cut 


cut 


cut 


feed 


fed 


fed 


*gird 


girt 


girt 


hide 


hid 


hid (hidden) 


hit 


hit 


hit 


hurt 


hurt 


hurt 


*knit 


knit 


knit 


lead 


led 


led 


lend 


lent 


lent, 


let 


let 


let 


* light 


lit 


lit 


meet 


met 


met 


put 


put 


put 


* quit 


quit 


quit 


read 


read 


read 


rend 


rent 


rent 


rid 


rid 


rid 


send 


sent 


sent 


set 


set 


set 


shed 


shed 


shed 



96 



English Grammar 



Present Tense 


Past Tense 


Perfect Participle 


shred 


shred 


shred 


shut 


shut 


shut 


slide 


slid 


slid 


slit 


slit 


slit 


speed 


sped 


sped 


spend 


spent 


spent 


spit 


spit 


spit 


split 


split 


split 


spread 


spread 


spread 


sweat 


sweat 


sweat 


thrust 


thrust 


thrust 


* wed 


wed 


wed 


* wet 


wet 


wet 



Notes. — The following weak verbs have, in more or less common 
use, perfect participles of the strong conjugation: carve (carven), chide 
(chidden), grave (graven), hew (hewn), hide (hidden), lade (laden), 
melt (molten), mow (mown), shave (shaven), shape (shapen), show 
(shown), slide (slidden), sow (sown), strew (strewn), swell (swollen). 

It is not thought advisable to enumerate here all the forms of Eng- 
lish verbs to be found in literature. For forms not given in these lists 
the student should consult the dictionary. 

There is a growing tendency, under the influence of spelling reform, 
to write / instead of ed in the past tense and perfect participie of weak 
verbs, wherever the word ends in a t sound instead of a d sound : dropt, 
stopt, mixt, dipt, drest, prest, crost, fixt, etc., just as in wept, blest, 
past, etc. This practice should be encouraged. 



DEFECTIVE VERBS 

108. Defective Verbs are those that are deficient in some 
of their parts. They have no infinitive, participle, or 
imperative mood, and form no compound tenses. They 
are : can, may, must, ought, shall, will. 

Can, may, shall, and will have the past tenses could, 
might, should, and would. 

Must and ought, though originally past tenses, are now used only as 
present tenses, except sometimes in dependent clauses. 



Auxiliary Verbs 97 

All these verbs- are used either as indicative or as sub- 
junctive, without change of form. They are used in both 
numbers and in all three persons without change, except 
in the second person singular : thou canst, couldst, mayst % 
mightest, oughtest, shalt, shouldst, wilt, wouldst. Must is 
invariable. 

The third person singular of the present tense of all these verbs is 
the same as the first person. We say he shall, he will, he may, he can, 
instead of he shalls, he wills, he mays, he cans. The reason is that the 
present tense of all these verbs except will was formerly a past tense, 
and in the past tense the third person is always the same as the first 
person. In the same way, dare and need, not otherwise defective, are 
sometimes used in the third person singular without s: He dare not do 
it. He need not go. 

There are a few other defective verbs occasionally found in literature. 
Of these the more important are : to wit (know), present wot, past 
wist; thinks (seems), as in methinks (it seems to me), methought (it 
seemed to me) ; quoth (said) used only in the past tense ■ hight (was 
called). 

IMPERSONAL VERBS 

109. Verbs used only in the third person, without refer- 
ence to any agent, are called Impersonal Verbs. For 
grammatical subject these verbs have the pronoun it, 
used indefinitely. They relate for the most part to phe- 
nomena of nature, as : It rains. It snows. It hails. It 
dawns. 

AUXILIARY VERBS 

110. Auxiliary Verbs are so called because they help to 
make up certain forms of mood, tense, and voice. The 
auxiliary verbs are be, do, have, shall, will, may. 

Be, — (a) Be is used with the perfect participle to form 
the passive voice of all transitive verbs : — 
He is loved. They will have been loved. 



9 8 English Grammar 

(b) Be is used with the present participle to make up the 
continuous or progressive tense-forms : — 

I am writing. He was reading. 

(c) Be is used with the perfect participle to form the old 
perfect tenses of some intransitive verbs : — 

He is gone. They were come. 

Do. — Do is used with the infinitive to make up the 
emphatic, negative, and interrogative forms of the present 
and past tenses : — 

You do know that. He does not know. Did you see him ? 

Have. — Have is used with the perfect participle to make 
up the perfect tenses : — 

I have written. You had written. You will have written. 

Shall. — Shall is used with the infinitive to make up the 
first person of the future tenses : — 
I shall go. We shall have seen. 

Will. — Will is used with the infinitive to make up the 
forms of the future tenses in the second and third persons: — 
He will know. They will have seen. 

For may, should, and would, as auxiliaries of the subjunctive mood, 
see 172-174. 

The verbs here considered are, however, not always auxiliaries. 
They may be used as principal verbs. Thus have in " They have their 
reward " is a principal verb, just as receive is in " They receive their 
reward " ; but in " They have received their reward," have is merely the 
auxiliary of the perfect tense, and the verb is have received, perfect 
tense of receive. When we say " The medicine did him good," did is 
the principal verb ; when we say " I did not know him," did is an aux- 
iliary used to make the past tense of know. Whether these verbs are 
to be construed as auxiliaries or as principal verbs in any instance 
depends on whether they are or are not used to make up verb-phrases 
of voice, tense, or mood. 



Verbs 99 

EXERCISE 59 
Compose and write : — 

1. A sentence containing is as a principal verb. 

2. A sentence containing is as an auxiliary verb. 

3. A sentence containing does as a principal verb. 

4. A sentence containing does as an auxiliary verb. 

5. A sentence containing has as a principal verb. 

6. A sentence containing has as an auxiliary verb. 

7. A sentence containing will as a principal verb. 

8. A sentence containing will as an auxiliary verb. 

9. A compound sentence containing impersonal verbs. 

REVIEW 

Give the mood, tense, voice, number, and person of the 
verbs, and classify them (Strong or Weak, Transitive or 
Intransitive). Point out also the infinitives and parti- 
ciples : — 

1. But O the heavy change, now thou art gone, 
Now thou art gone and never must return ! 

2. His prayer he saith, this patient, holy man ; 
Then takes his lamp and riseth from his knees. 

3. How shall I then your helpless fame defend ? 
'Twill then be infamy to seem your friend. 

4. Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more ! 

5. The naked hulk alongside came, 

And the twain were casting dice ; 
"The game is done ! I've won, I've won!" 
Quoth she, and whistles thrice. 

6. The silly buckets on the deck, 

That had so long remained, 
I dreamt that they were filled with dew ; 
And when I woke, it rained. 



LofC. 



ioo English Grammar 

7. Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend, 
And round his dwelling guardian saints attend ; 
Blest be that spot where cheerful guests retire 
To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire. 

8. Fairest of stars, last in the train of night, 
If better thou belong not to the dawn, 

Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn 
With thy bright circlet — praise him in thy sphere 
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime. 

9. In full-bloom dignity see Wolsey stand, 
Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand : 

To him the church, the realm, their powers consign, 
Through him the rays of regal bounty shine, 
Turned by his nod the stream of honor flows, 
His smile alone security bestows. 

10. For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead, 

Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor ; 

So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, 

And yet anon repairs his drooping head, 

And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore 

Flames in the forehead of the morning sky. 

11. It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honor 
which felt a stain like a wound ! 

12. When I shall have brought them into the land, then will they 
turn to other gods. 

13. That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been 
so trained in youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and 
does with ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is 
capable of. 

14. Long before the sound of the report can roll up the river the 
whole pent-up life and energy which has been held in leash, as it were, 
for the last six minutes, is loosed, and breaks away with a bound and 
a dash which he who has felt it will remember for his life, but the like 
of which will he ever feel again ? 



CHAPTER XII 

ADVERBS 

111. We have seen that the use of the Adverb is to 
modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, as : She walks 
gracefully. The weather is very cold. He writes fairly 
well 

Adverbs may be divided into the following classes : — 

(i) Adverbs of Manner : faithfully, sternly, so, well, etc. 

(2) Adverbs of Time : soon, presently, then, afterwards, 
always, never, to-morrow, etc. 

(3) Adverbs of Place : here, there, where, back, tip, down, 
north, hither, etc. 

(4) Adverbs of Degree : much, little, as, so, very, almost, 
quite, enough, etc. 

(5) Adverbs of Cause or Reason: why, wherefore, there- 
fore, hence, accordingly, etc. 

(6) Adverbs of Concession : nevertheless, however, in- 
deed, etc. 

Yes and no, yea and nay, express simple affirmation or negation, and 
make complete statements in themselves. Not, however, and no in such 
expressions as " no better," etc., are true adverbs, and may be called 
Negative Adverbs. 

112. Most adverbs are formed from adjectives by the 
addition of -ly : grand, grandly ; true, truly ; wise, wisely ; 
principal, principally. 



102 



English Grammar 



Not all words, however, that end in -ly are adverbs ; many adjectives 
are formed in this way : a lovely rose, a homely word, a friendly eye, a 
sickly look, a goodly number, a ^d/j/ life. Whether a word ending in 
-ly is an adverb or an adjective is to be determined by its use in the 
sentence. In " He made daily visits to his friend," daily is an adjective ; 
in " He visited his friend daily," daily is an adverb. 

In old English, adverbs were distinguished from adjectives by the 
addition of e. In course of time the e was dropped, leaving the adverb 
identical in form with the adjective. This simple form of the adverb is 
still in use, and is quite common in poetry : Don't talk so loud. Walk 
fast. "Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows." 

113. Some adverbs are derived from the bases of the 
pronouns he, that, who. Their formation and meaning are 
presented in the following 

Table of Pronominal Adverbs 





Where 


From which 


To which 


Time 


Manner 


Reason 


Degree 


he 

that 

who 


here 
there 
where 


hence 
thence 
whence 


hither 

thither 

whither 


then 
when 


thus 
how 


why 


the 



The adverbs where, when, whither, whence, how, why, are, like the 
pronoun who, both relative and interrogative. As relative adverbs, 
they have the same power of joining dependent sentences or clauses 
that the pronoun has : I go where duty calls me. This is the season 
when the woods are most beautiful. These are called Conjunctive 
Adverbs (see 125) • 

The pronominal adverbs, and some others, such as consequently, 
accordingly, often serve as reference words connecting one sentence 
with another : I waited for him until six o'clock. Then, as it was get- 
ting dark, I set out for home. 

114. A few adverbs are not derived from other words. 
The more important of these are : now, so, often, quite, very, 
well, soon. 



Adverbs 



101 



EXERCISE 60 

Point out the adverbs, tell to which class each belongs, 
and what it modifies : — 

I. Christmas will soon be here. 2. She listened very patiently to 
his rather tedious explanation. 3. When will your father return? 
4. Too many cooks spoil the broth. 5. His brother will certainly come 
to-morrow. 6. I have often watched him walking down the street. 
7. I hope you will be quite strong when I come again. 8. Your letter 
is too carelessly written. 9. You are not careful enough. 10. Slowly 
and sadly we laid him to rest. 11. Sometimes he answers harshly. 
12. Always do what is right, and never despair. 13. Slow rises worth 
by poverty depressed. 14. He is far brighter than his brother, who is 
quite dull. 15. Walk fast, and don't talk so loud. 16. Tom is thor- 
oughly honest. 17. Yonder gleam the lances of the foe. 18. Charles 
is much older than I. 19. The family formerly lived in Chicago. 
20. Why did you stay out so late ? 21. The class in spelling recites 
first, then the geography class. 22. I could hardly hear him. 23. The 
mail is delivered there twice a day. 24. I have seldom heard that old 
song better sung. 25. They are almost all gone now. 



COMPARISON OF ADVERBS 

115. A few adverbs are compared like adjectives : often, 
oftener, often est ; soon, sooner, soonest ; fast, faster, fastest; 
early, earlier, earliest. 

Most adverbs form the Comparative and Superlative by 
the use of more and most, less and least : freely, more freely, 
most freely ; freely, less freely, least freely. 

116. The following adverbs are irregularly compared: — 



Positive 


Comparative 


Sufterlati 


ill, badly 


worse 


worst 


well 


better 


best 


much 


more 


most 


little 


less 


least 



104 



English Grammar 



Positive 


Comparative 


Superlative 


near 


nearer 


nearest, next 


nigh 


nigher 


nigh est, next 


far, forth 


farther, further 


farthest, furthest 


late 


later 


last 





rather 






EXERCISE 61 
Compose and write : — 

1. A sentence containing an adverb oi place. 

2. A sentence containing an adverb of ?nanner. 

3. A sentence containing an adverb of cause. 

4. A sentence containing an adverb of time. 

5. A sentence containing an adverb of concession. 

6. A sentence containing an adverb of degree. 

7. A sentence containing a pronominal adverb of manner. 

8. A sentence containing the comparative of much and little. 

9. A sentence containing the comparative oifar and badly. 

REVIEW 



Point out the adverbs, tell to what class each belongs, 
and what it modifies : — 

1. Oft she rejects, but never once ofFends. 

2. Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss. 

3. All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone. 

4. The slower the current the deeper the stream. 

5. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. 

6. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

7. Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered 
together. 

8. Slowly and smoothly went the ship, 
Moved onward from beneath. 



Adverbs 105 

9. The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, 

The ploughman homeward plods his weary way. 

10. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. 

1 1 . Hope springs eternal in the human breast ; 
Man never is, but always to be, blest. 

12. How sleep the brave who sink to rest, 
By all their country's wishes blest! 

13. I thrice presented him a kingly crown, 
Which he did thrice refuse. 

14. Jura answers, through her misty shroud, 
Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud. 

15. Comrades, leave me here a little, while as yet 'tis early morn: 
Leave me here, and when you want me, sound upon the bugle-horn. 

16. Forward, forward let us range, 
Let the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves of change. 

17. To one who has been long in city pent, 

'Tis very sweet to look into the fair 
And open face of heaven, — to breathe a prayer 
Full in the smile of the blue firmament. 

18. Full knee-deep lies the winter's snow, 

And the winter winds are wearily sighing, — 
Toll ye the church bells sad and slow, 
And tread softly and speak low, 

For the old year lies a-dying. 



CHAPTER XIII 

PREPOSITIONS 

117. A Preposition is a word used with a noun or pro- 
noun to show its relation to some other word in the sen- 
tence. The noun or pronoun dependent on the preposition 
is in the objective case, and is therefore called the object of 
the preposition. 

The preposition is so called from the fact that it is usually placed 
before its object ; but it sometimes follows the object : All the world 
over. 

It is thoroughly in accord with English idiom to close a sentence 
with a preposition : What are you waiting for? This is the best place 
that I know of Never talk of matters that you know nothing about. 

The preposition always comes last when its object is an omitted 
relative pronoun. In the sentence " This is the book you were looking 
for," the object of the preposition for is the relative pronoun that, 
omitted after book, and for shows the relation between //fo?/ and looking. 
Other examples are : — 

This is the gentleman I travelled with. 
You need a light to read by. 
This is the place to come to. 

118. The object of a preposition is not always a noun 
or a pronoun. Other parts of speech, and even whole 
phrases and clauses, are used after prepositions : — 

(a) Adverbs : I did not know until then. It is not far from here. 
Come at once. 

(b) Adjectives : I cannot say for certain. Lift up your eyes on 
high. He pleaded in vain. 

1 06 



Prepositions 107 

(V) Phrases : He - will not leave till after the election. A voice 
answered from within the veil. 

(d) Clauses : Don't speak of what you have heard. 

119. Some prepositions are simple, others derivative. 
Simple prepositions are : — 

at, after, by, down, ere, for, from, in, of, off, over, till, to, up, with. 
Derivative prepositions are formed 

(a) By compounding adverbs with prepositions : — 

about, above, against, beneath, into, throughout, toward, underneath, 
upon, within, without. 

(b) By compounding nouns or adjectives with preposi- 
tions : — 

across, amid, amidst, among, amongst, around, athwart, aslant, below, 
beside, besides, between, betwixt. 

In these the a- and the be- stand for the prepositions on and by 
respectively. 

(c) From verbs : — 

during, except, past, save, notwithstanding, concerning. 

120. Sometimes two or more words are used together 
with the value of a preposition. In the sentence " He 
stopped in front of the store," in front of shows the 
relation of store to stopped. Some of these groups are : — 

out of, according to, alongside of, because of, instead of, in respect 
to, in regard to. 

Many of the words here classed as prepositions are also used without 
an object, in which case they are to be parsed as adverbs : Come in out 
of the rain. It is time to get up. Go on, and I will follow. 

EXERCISE 62 
Compose and write : — 
1 . A sentence with a preposition after its object. 



108 English Grammar 

2. A sentence with a phrase as object of a preposition. 

3. A sentence with a clause as object of a preposition. 

4. A sentence with an adverb as object of a preposition. 

5. A sentence with an adjective as object of a preposition. 

6. A sentence containing a prepositional phrase with an object. 

7. A sentence ending in a preposition with its object omitted. 

8. A sentence containing a preposition used as an adverb. 

REVIEW 

Point out the prepositions and their objects : — 

1 . Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 

2. Dupe of to-morrow even from a child. 

3. Brown skeletons of leaves that lag 
My forest-brook along. 

4. Fear no more the frown o' the great ; 
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke. 

5. Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, 
And fools who came to scoff remained to pray. 

6. Compared with this, how poor Religion's pride, 

In all the pomp of method and of art, 
When men display to congregations wide 
Devotion's every grace, except the heart ! 

7. There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, 

That wreathes its old, fantastic roots so high, 
His listless length at noon-tide would he stretch, 
And pore upon the brook that babbles by, 

8. Under the greenwood tree, 
Who loves to lie with me, 
And turn his merry note 
Unto the sweet bird's throat, 

Come hither, come hither, come hither : 
Here shall he see 
No enemy 

But winter and rough weather. 



CHAPTER XIV 

CONJUNCTIONS 

121. Conjunctions join words or groups of words. They 
may be divided into two principal classes : Coordinate and 
Subordinate. 

122. Coordinate Conjunctions are those that join words 
or groups of words of the same rank. 

The simple coordinate conjunctions are and, but, or. Certain pairs 
of words that have the value of coordinate conjunctions are called 
Correlatives : both . . . and, either . . . or, neither . . . nor, whether 
. . . or, not only . . . but {also), and sometimes or . . . or, nor . . . nor. 

123. Subordinate Conjunctions are those that introduce 
clauses (see 139). They are divided, according to the office 
of the clause introduced, into Conjunctions of : — 

(i) Time: after, as, before, ere, since, until, while, etc. 

(2) Cause or Reason : as, because, for, since, zvhereas, 
etc. 

(3) Condition : if, except, unless, provided, so, etc. 

(4) Concession : though, although, albeit, notwithstanding, 
etc. 

(5) Purpose or Result : that, lest, \so~\ that, {in order] 
that, etc. 

(6) Comparison : as, than. 

(7) Conjunctions introducing Noun Clauses : that, whether. 

109 



no English Grammar 

124. Sometimes two or three words are used together 
with the value of a conjunction. Such phrases are: as 
if, as though, so that, in order that, inasmuch as, etc. 

The clause introduced by a subordinate conjunction is sometimes 
reduced, by the omission of parts readily understood from the context, 
to a single word. In the sentence " Though dead, he yet speaketh," 
though is a subordinate conjunction, introducing the concessive idea, 
he is dead, which is sufficiently rendered here by the one word dead. 

125. Some adverbs are used, like subordinate conjunc- 
tions, to introduce clauses. When so used they are called 
Conjunctive Adverbs, inasmuch as they never entirely lose 
their adverbial force. Such are : — 

when, where, whence, how, why. 

EXERCISE 63 

Point out and classify the conjunctions and the con- 
junctive adverbs : — 

i. I care not whether he goes or stays. 2. Tarry till I come. 3. He 
is welcome wherever he goes. 4. I will give you an answer as soon as 
my brother returns. 5. It is a year since I saw him last. 6. Ye shall 
not eat of it, lest ye die. 7. It is said that men of few words are the 
best men. 8. Freely we serve because we freely love. 9. It matters 
not how he looks, so he can do the work. 10. Except the Lord build 
the house they labor in vain that build it. 1 1 . I know that I can find 
it. 12. He is taller than I am. 13. Though it is past twelve o'clock, 
the train has not yet come. 14. If any one asks for me, say that I shall 
be back before long. 15. Wealth heaped on wealth nor truth nor 
safety buys. 16. She gave him not only something to eat, but also 
some clothing. 17. Do unto others as ye would that they should do 
unto you. 18. Ask him whether he knows the road to Weston. 19. He 
looks as if he had not had a square meal for a week. 20. Open the 
gate wide so that he can drive through. 21. A holiday was given in 
order that the children might see the parade. 22. The old soldier was 
fond of telling how the great battle was won. 23. The road is better 
now than it was when I used to trudge along it to school. 



Conjunctions 1 1 1 

EXERCISE 64 
Compose and write : — 

i. A compound sentence containing coordinate conjunctions. 

2. A complex sentence containing a clause introduced by a conjunc- 
tion of time. 

3. A complex sentence containing a clause introduced by a conjunc- 
tion of condition. 

4. A complex sentence containing a clause introduced by a conjunc- 
tion of purpose. 

5. A complex sentence containing a clause introduced by a conjunc- 
tion of cause. 

6. A complex sentence containing a clause introduced by a conjunc- 
tion of comparison. 



CHAPTER XV 

INTERJECTIONS 

126. An Interjection is a word that calls attention or 
expresses sudden feeling. 

Some of the interjections are : — 

O, oh, ah, hello, also, hey, hurrah, pshaw, ha, lo, bah, whew, hnt, tut, 
aha, fie, etc. 

EXERCISE 65 

Point out the interjections : — 

i. Hello! is that you? 2. Oh! what a pity! 3. O king, live for- 
ever ! 4. Hurrah ! our boys have won. 5. Ah ! what a fall was there, 
my countrymen ! 6. Pshaw ! what difference does it make ? 7. Alas ! 
he is no more. 8. Hey ! Nellie, ho ! Nellie, listen unto me. 9. Bah ! 
this apple's sour. 10. I turned, and lo ! he had vanished. 11. Aha! I 
have caught you. 12. Hey ! Bob, wait for me ! 13. Fie ! you ought 
to be ashamed. 14. Whew ! how the wind blows ! 15. Tut ! my boy, 
never mind. 

EXERCISE 66 

Write six sentences, each containing one of the following 
interjections : — 

Ah, oh, hurrah, hello, alas, pshaw. 



PART III 
CHAPTER XVI 

SYNTAX 

127. Syntax is that part of grammar which sets forth the 
principles controlling the relations of words within the sen- 
tence. Much of it has already been presented in Part I 
and in Part II ; but there remain to be considered many 
matters not yet touched upon, and others that have been 
mentioned but not fully explained. They may be grouped 
under the following heads : Case Relations, Syntax of the 
Adjective, Concord, Tense, Mood and Modal Auxiliaries, 
Infinitive, Participle and Verbal Noun. 

CASE RELATIONS 

128. Of cases, as distinguished by inflection, English 
nouns have but two : man, man's. Some of the pronouns 
have three : he, his, him ; who, whose, whom. Adjectives, 
which in Anglo-Saxon had case inflections like nouns, 
have, in modern English, no inflection for case. 

But, though English has at most only three case forms, 
and English nouns only two, the case relations are as 
varied as in other languages. It is customary in English 
grammar to group these uses under one or other of the 
three case names given to the forms of the pronoun : 

113 



tt4 English Grammar 

Nominative. Possessive, Objective. We can in most cases 
tell whether a noun is in the nominative or the objective 
case by seeing what form the personal pronoun would take 
in the same place. 

129. Nominative Case. — i. The subject of a finite verb 
is in the nominative case : — 

John knows his lessons. She looks well. Is he gone? 

The subject of a verb in the imperative mood (always the pronoun 
of the second person) is not expressed, except for emphasis or contrast : 
Hand me the blotter. 

The subject is sometimes omitted before verbs in other moods. In 
"Thank you, sir," the subject / is omitted. In "Bless your heart," 
the subject is omitted, and, indeed, is hardly thought of. 

On the other hand, the subject is sometimes repeated in the form of 
a pronoun, either for emphasis or to restate a long or remote subject : 
The Lord 7 he is God. 

To make a happy fireside clime 

To weans and wife — 
Thafs the true pathos and sublime 

Of human life. 

The redundant use of the pronoun when no emphasis is intended, as 
in " Tom, he was there," often heard in colloquial speech, is inelegant. 

2. The noun or pronoun indicating the person addressed 
is in the nominative case : — 

Where have you been, John ? 

O Thou that hearest prayer, to thee shall all flesh come ! 

3. A noun or pronoun in the absolute construction with 
a participle is in the nominative case : — 

The rain being over, we set out. 

He being absent, no business could be transacted. 



Case Relations ^5 

The case of the noun or pronoun in this construction was, in older 
English, the dative (modern objective) ; and survivals of this older use 
are not infrequent in Milton : 1 — 

Dagon hath presumed 
Me overthrown, to enter lists with God. 

The absolute construction is to be kept distinct from that of the 
appositive participle, where the noun or pronoun has its construction 
independent of the participle, and the participle is merely a modifier. 
In " John, hearing the news, hurried home," Jphn is the subject, and 
the participial phrase is an adjunct of the subject ; but in " John having 
told us the news, we were prepared for their coming," John is neither 
subject nor object, and has no construction except with the participle 
having told. Hence it is said to be used absolutely. 

4. A noun or pronoun may be described or explained 
by joining to it another noun or pronoun standing for the 
same person or thing. The describing noun or pronoun is 
said to be in apposition with the noun or pronoun described : 
Edward, the king's eldest son, was slain. 

The word in apposition is in the same case as the prin- 
cipal word. Hence, a noun or pronoun in apposition with 
a word in the nominative case is in the nominative case : — 

My old friends, they that toiled and suffered with me through that 
time, are all gone now. Garrick, the famous actor* was his friend. 

Appositive epithets sometimes become so closely united with the 
words they modify that the whole is felt to make but one name : 
William the Conqueror, Peter the Hermit. 

5. After the intransitive verbs of incomplete predica- 
tion (or copulative verbs, see 85), the noun or pronoun that 
completes the predication, standing for the same person or 
thing as the subject, is in the nominative case : — 

Are you the man ? I am he. 
They soon became friends. 
Arnold turned traitor. 

1 This use in Milton may be explained, however, as an imitation of the Latin 
Absolute Construction. 



1 1 6 English Grammar 

Colloquial English uses the objective case of the personal pronoun 
in such expressions as " It's me" This is supported by some gram- 
marians, but it is to be avoided in dignified language. 

Verbs that in the active voice take an objective predicate noun 
(see 86, 133 4) retain the predicate noun in the passive construction, 
but in the nominative case, to agree with the subject. Thus " They 
called him Longshanks " (objective), becomes " He was called Long- 
shanks (nominative, to agree with he). Other examples are : — 

Thompson was elected governor. 
My uAcle has been made postmaster. 

130. Possessive Case. — The possessive is the only case 
in English nouns that is marked by a special inflection ('s). 

The use of the possessive is to limit the meaning of a 
noun. It usually denotes possession and therefore is used 
chiefly of the names of persons, or of animals supposed to 
have intelligence. Thus we say Mary's book, a horse's 
mane, but not the halVs ceiling, the book's cover. When a 
thing is personified, however, the noun may be used in the 
possessive : music's voice, the law's delay. There are, 
moreover, many phrases well established in the language 
in which the possessive case does not denote possession. 
Such are a year's work, three months' time, at arm's length, 
a winter's tale, at a momenfs notice. 

The possessive is occasionally used to denote the object of the action 
implied in the principal noun. In the sentence " I will avenge my 
father's murder," the speaker does not mean the murder that his father 
committed, but the murder committed upon his father. So " his 
wrongs" means the wrongs that have been done him, whereas "his 
crimes" means the crimes that he has done. Other examples are: 
their defeat (= defeat of them), his like (= the like of him). This use 
of the possessive is called the objective possessive (corresponding to 
what is known in other languages as the Objective Genitive). 

131. When one noun is in apposition with another noun 
in the possessive case, both nouns are, of course, in con- 



Case Relations 117 

struction, possessive, but the case inflection is given to one 
only : of Hamlet our dear brother's death ; for man the 
creature's sin ; at Johnson's the bookseller. 

132. The w^>rd that the possessive limits is frequently 
omitted when it can be readily supplied from the context : 
This book is my brother's ; He is staying at the Joneses' ; 
They took lunch at Delmonico's ; Meet me at the photog- 
raphers. 

The use of the possessive after of in such expressions as 
"a friend of father's," "that horse of Brown's," "this home 
of ours," "that wife of his," is logically redundant, as it 
expresses the possessive relation twice ; but it is an estab- 
lished idiom of the language. It is commonly called the 
" double possessive." 

133. Objective Case. — 1. The direct object of a transi- 
tive verb is in the objective case : — 

They have finished their work. 
Longfellow wrote Evangeline. 
Where did you leave your book? • 

2. Some intransitive verbs may take an object of kindred 
meaning. This is called the cognate object : — 

He died the death of the righteous. 

Fight the good fight of faith. 

I dreamed a drea?n. 

Eyes looked love. 

She looked daggers at him. 

He ran his godly race. 

They danced a reel. 

He wanted to rough it like the commonest laborer. 

Some transitive verbs may take in addition to the direct 
object, a cognate object : — 

The ruffian thereupon struck him a blow. 



1 1 8 English Grammar 

3. The indirect object of a verb is in the objective 

case : — 

The old man told me a wonderful story. 
His uncle has given him a pony to ride. 
He left them all his wealth. # 

Send me word at once. 

Instead of the indirect object this relation may be expressed by to 
or for with the objective : They sent me (indirect object) word at once 
= they at once sent word to me (prepositional phrase) ; the carpenter 
made him (indirect object) a sled = the carpenter made a sled for 
him (prep, phrase). Do not, however, parse the indirect object as 
"governed by to ox for understood." 

The relation of indirect object is expressed in Old 
English and in some other languages by a special case, 
the Dative. The functions of the dative are now per- 
formed either by prepositional phrases or by the objective 
case. Besides that of indirect object the following dative 
constructions appear in modern English : — 

(a) The reflexive dative, with intransitive verbs : — 

They sat them down to rest. 

(b) The so-called ethical dative : — 

. . . the Hotspur of the North, he that kills me six or seven dozen 
of Scots at a breakfast. 

One Colonna cuts me the throat of Orsini's baker. 

(c) The dative after near {nearer, next} and like: — 

He looks very much like me. 

Were you near him when he did it ? 

The case after these words is not to be explained as " objective after 
a preposition understood. 1 ' 

4. Certain transitive verbs take, besides the object, a 
noun to complete the meaning (see 86). The completing 
word after these transitive verbs, standing for the same 



Case Relations 119 

person or thing as the object, is in the same case, the 
objective : — 

They made him captain. 

You once called me your friend. 

A noun in this construction is to be parsed as Objective 
Complement. 

Some of the verbs that take an objective complement are make, 
choose, elect, appoint, create, declare, call. 

As already pointed out (Nom. Case 5), when these verbs are used in 
the passive voice, the object of the action becomes the subject of the 
sentence and the complement is retained, but in the nominative case, to 
agree with the subject. 

5. A noun or pronoun dependent upon a preposition is 
in the objective case : — 

Mary has written a letter to her aunt. 
He spoke to them. 
Is this for me ? 
Hurry after him. 

6. Nouns are sometimes used in the objective case, with- 
out prepositions, with a purely adverbial value. The most 
important of these uses are to denote time, space, weight, 
measure, direction, manner: — 

I saw him last week. 

They stayed three days. 

I will not yield an inch. 

The flag-pole is one hundred feet high. 

He went the rest of the way alone. 

The bass weighed five pounds. 

Alfred hurried ho?ne. 

Have it your own way. 

7. In exclamations, the objective is sometimes used abso* 
lutely, without any governing word : — 

Ah. me! Dear me! Me miserable ! 



110 English Grammar 

8. A noun or pronoun in apposition with a word in the 
objective case must (see 129, 4) be in the objective case : — ■ 

I met Barlowe, the physician, on the landing. 

They found their false guide, him that had led them into an ambush, 
peering over the edge of the cliff. 

REVIEW 

Give the case and construction of each noun and pro- 
noun : — 

1 . Happy mortals then were we, 
I loved Myra, Myra me. 

2. A transient calm the happy scenes bestow, 
And for a moment lull the sense of woe. 

3. The poor wren, 
The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. 

4. Strong Son of God, immortal Love, 

Whom we, that have not seen thy face, 
By faith, and faith alone, embrace, 
Believing where we cannot prove ; 

5. Thine are these orbs of light and shade; 

Thou madest Life in man and brute ; 
Thou madest Death ; and lo, thy foot 
Is on the skull which thou hast made. 

6. I strove with none, for none was worth my strife. 

Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art ; 
I warmed both hands before the fire of Life ; 
, It sinks, and I am ready to depart. 

7. The sun descending in the west, 

The evening star does shine, 
The birds are silent in their nest, 
And I must seek for mine. 



Case Relations i 21 

8. Even now, where Alpine solitudes ascend, 
I sit me down, a pensive hour to spend. 

9. Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, 

And all the air a solemn stillness holds, 
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, 
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant fold. 

10. When Music, heavenly maid, was young, 
While yet in early Greece she sung, 
The passions oft, to hear her shell, 
Thronged around her magic cell. 

1 1 . Favors to none, to all she smiles extends ; 
Oft she rejects, but never once offends. 

12. Then lies him down the lubber fiend, 
And, stretched out all the chimney's length, 
Basks at the fire his hairy strength, 

And crop-full out of door he flings, 
Ere the first cock his matin rings. 

13. But oh ! the heavy change, now thou art gone, 
Now thou art gone, and never must return ! 
Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves, 
With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown, 
And all their echoes, mourn. 

14. From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, 

That makes her loved at home, revered abroad ; 
Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, 
An honest man's the noblest work of God. 

15. The mountains look on Marathon — 

And Marathon looks on the sea; 
And musing there an hour alone, 

I dreamed that Greece might still be free ; 
For, standing on the Persians' grave, 
I could not deem myself a slave. 



122 English Grammar 

16. In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robing breast ; 
In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest. 

17. But me, not destined such delights to share, 
My prime of life in wandering spent and care ; 
Impelled, with steps unceasing, to pursue 
Some fleeting good that mocks me with the view| 
That, like the circle bounding earth and skies, 
Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies ; 
My fortune leads to traverse realms alone, 
And find no spot of all the world my own. 



SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES 

134. Adjectives are in their nature dependent words; 
they belong to some noun or pronoun, either expressed or 
understood. According to the relation an adjective bears 
to its principal, noun or pronoun, it is said to be in the 
Attributive, Appositive, or Predicate construction. 

1. The Attributive use is that in which the adjective 
directly modifies or limits the meaning of the principal 
word. In this use the adjective generally precedes, al- 
though it may, especially in poetry, follow the word to 
which it belongs : — 

A good south wind sprung up. 

The fair breeze blew ; the white foam flew. 

A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear. 

At last he rose and twitched his mantle blue ; 
To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new. 

2. When the adjective is less closely united with the 
principal word, and rather adds to than limits or modifies 
it, it is said to be in the Appositive construction. The 
appositive adjective or adjective phrase is often a reduced 
clause and as such is in sense a modifier of the predicate, 



Syntax of Adjectives i 2 3 

although as adjective it is to be construed with the noun 
or pronoun, not with the verb : — 

Grand, gloomy, and peculiar, he sat upon the throne a sceptred 
hermit. 

I listened motionless and still. 

3. We have already seen that a noun or pronoun may 
be used after a verb, not as object, but to complete the 
predicate. Adjectives may be used in the same way to 
complete the predicate, referring either to the subject (see 
Now,. Case, 5) or to the object (see Obj. Case, 4). In the 
sentence, "The children are happy," happiness is not 
simply attributed to the children, but is predicated of 
them. In the sentence, " He made the stick straight," 
straight is a part of what he did to the stick. 

Sweet was the sound, when oft at evening's close, 
Up yonder hill the village murmur rose. 

Fear made him speechless. 

135. Comparison. — Some exceptional and idiomatic uses 
and forms of the comparative and superlative degrees are 
to be noted : — 

1. Although the comparative is the usual construction 
in the comparison of two objects ("She was the fairer oi 
the two "), the superlative is found in this use throughout 
the whole range of English literature : — 

Let us make incision for your love, 

To prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine. — Shakspere. 

Then thou shalt see, or rather to thy sorrow 

Soon feel, whose god is strongest, thine or mine. — Milton. 

And who were tutors ? " Lady Blanche," she said, 
" And Lady Psyche." Which was prettiest, 
Best natured f " Lady Psyche . " — Tennyson. 



124 English Grammar 

The idiomatic use is seen in such expressions as, " Put your best foot 
foremost." 

The same is true of adverbs : She spoke first. 

2. The superlative is not infrequently used to denote a 
high degree of the quality attributed, without making a 
comparison : — 

This is a most ingenious device. 

His answer was most clear and satisfactory. 

My dearest mother ! 

This counsellor 
Is now most still. ?nost secret, and most grave, 
Who was in life a foolish prating knave. 

The superlative of adverbs is used in the same way. 
A similar use of the comparative in the sense of too or rather is 
much less frequently found : — 

Help thou, O holy virgin, chief of nine, 
Thy weaker novice to perform thy will. 

3. In older writers, frequently in Shakspere, double 
forms of the comparative and superlative are very com- 
mon : — 

The duke of Milan, 
And his more braver daughter could control thee. 

The most unkindest cut of all. 

136. Other Parts of Speech used as Adjectives. — Nouns 
and noun-phrases are often used to modify other nouns, 
with the logical value of adjectives: — 

A railroad accident, an insurance agent ; he showed his city breed- 
ing ; they celebrated their silver wedding ; the Lehigh Valley Coal and 
Transportation Company. 

Rarely, adverbs are found used as adjectives, that is, to modify 
nouns : — 

For thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities ; his almost 
despair ; the then ruler ; the above example ; my evermore delight. 

This use of the adverb is now avoided. 



Concord 125 



CONCORD 

137- We have seen already (Part II) that verbs agree 
with their subjects, and pronouns agree with their ante- 
cedents, in number and person. Pronouns that distin- 
guish gender must agree with their antecedents in this 
respect also : — 

I am, thou art, he is, you were. 

One sows, another reaps. 

England expects every man to do his duty. 

Lucy has lost her scissors, and cannot finish her work without them. 

I, who have seen all countries, still prefer my own. 

O Thou that seest all things, judge my cause ! 

138. Concord of Pronoun with Antecedent. — Three con- 
structions in which errors are often made call for special 
consideration here. 

1. When a pronoun has for antecedent two or more 
nouns or pronouns in the singular number joined by the 
conjunctions or, nor, either . . . or, neither . . . nor, the 
pronoun agrees with each separately, and is therefore in 
the singular : — 

Neither yard nor garden has any fence around it. 
Neither horse nor rider could find his way back. 
A civilized man, or a Hottentot, would have betrayed his surprise ; 
not so the Indian. 

A fool or a knave may boast of his consistency. 

2. In like manner the distributives, each, every, either, 
neither, require the reference words to be in the singular : — 

Each member of the committee acted according to his convictions. 

Every castle had its stout defenders. 

Everybody in Vanity Fair spends his time in foolishness. 

Either of the sisters would gladly have given up her room to the guest. 



126 English Grammar 

The absence of a personal pronoun of common gender 
in English makes it difficult to observe this rule where both 
sexes are involved. Any one, everybody, etc., may be used 
for either man or woman ; but he is masculine, she femi- 
nine. Hence the difficulty in such sentences as this : — 

Every boy and girl paid dime cheerfully. 

What pronoun shall be used before dime? Not his, 
because that excludes the girls ; not her, because that 
excludes the boys. The strict logical construction demands 
both, his or her. But this is cumbersome and sounds awk- 
ward. The plural pronoun is used in such sentences by 
many good speakers and writers : — 

Every boy and girl paid their dime. 

In many cases, concord can be preserved by changing 
the construction of the sentence : — 

All the boys and girls paid their dimes cheerfully. 
The dime was cheerfully paid by each boy and girl. 

3. In the sentence, "This is one of the best novels 
that have ever been published in America," the antece- 
dent of the relative that is not one, but novels, and the verb 
is therefore plural {have). In such sentences the use of 
a singular verb as predicate to the relative pronoun is 
wrong. 

For the concord of pronouns with collective nouns see 139, 4. 

139. Concord of Subject and Predicate. — 1. Two or more 
singular subjects connected by or, nor, either . . . or, 
neither . . . nor, require the verb in the singular : — 

One or the other of them is guilty. 

Neither your father nor your grandfather thinks so. 



Concord 127 

.2. Two or more singular subjects connected by and 
require a plural verb : — 

Mercy and truth have met together. 

France and Germany are adjoining countries. 

Certain exceptions are to be made to this rule : — 

(a) Sometimes the verb is in the singular agreeing with 
the nearest of the two or more subjects, as in Milton : — 

Thence to the land where flows Ganges and Indus. 

This is especially frequent when the subjects follow the 

verb : — 

For wide is heard the thundering fray, 
The rout, the ruin, the dismay. — Scott. 

(b) When two or more nouns go to express one idea, cr 
are closely connected in thought, the verb is often put in 
the singular : — 

Do you know where my needle and thread is ? 

Where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 

— Bible. 

Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear compels me. — Milton. 
I should know what God and man is. — Tennyson. 
Distress and anguish co7neth upon you. — Bible. 

(c) Two or more subjects preceded by the distributives 
each, every , etc., require the verb in the singular: — 

Every man, woman, and child was there. 
Each leaf and blade of grass was parched. 

3. A subject in the plural requires a plural verb : — 

The boys have come back. 

To this rule the following exception is to be noted : — 
When the subject, though plural in form, is in meaning 
a unit, the verb is singular : — 



128 English Grammar 

Ten years is a long time to wait. 

Five dollars means a good deal to him. 

So in the titles of books, etc., and plural forms used simply as 
words : — 

Caesar's " Commentaries on the Gallic War " is a proof of his literary 
ability. 

" Paul and Virginia " is the work of a Frenchman, St. Pierre. 

" Books " is a noun in the plural number. 

4. Collective nouns in the singular take either a singular 
or a plural verb, according as the whole or the individuals 
composing the whole are had in mind : — 

The committee has decided to take no further steps at present. 

The committee were determined to settle the matter among them- 
selves. 

The cavalry were scattered. 

The tenth regiment was stationed on the right. 

It will be observed that pronouns referring to collective nouns, as in 
the second example, are, like the verb, either singular or plural according 
to the meaning. 

5. When there are two or more subjects connected by 
or, of which some are singular and some plural, the verb 
agrees with the nearest subject : — 

The governor or his advisers were held responsible. 

6. When two or more subjects connected by or, either 
. . . or, nor, neither . . . nor, are of different persons, the 
verb, in those tenses which distinguish person, generally 
agrees with the nearest subject : — 

Neither Mary nor I know where he is. 

Were neither you nor your brother at the station? 

The fact, however, that in such cases the verb can agree 
with only one of the subjects, when it should agree with 
all, leads us either to repeat the verb, as in 
Either you are wrong or I am, 



Tense 129 

or to employ some verb that does not distinguish person, 

as in 

Either you or I must be wrong. 

TENSE 

140. Present Tense. — The present tense, besides repre- 
senting an act or condition in the present time, or with 
reference to the present, has the following special uses : — 

1. It is sometimes used for the future: — 

When do you leave? 

I go in the morning. 

To-morrow is Sunday. 

I am going to the city next week. 

2. It is sometimes used for the past, especially in lively 
narration : — 

He reached the road in safety. Seeing an officer, he suddenly turns 
and runs in the opposite direction. But here he is confronted by 
another difficulty. 

3. It is used — even in clauses dependent upon past 
tenses, where the past tense might be expected — in 
statements of universal truth : — 

He denied that the earth is round. 

She taught her pupils that honesty is always better than shrewdness. 

141. Present Perfect Tense. — The present perfect tense 
is often used to express the present result of a past act: — 

Burke has written speeches that will compare favorably with the 
greatest orations of antiquity. 

A tree has fallen across the road. 



130 English Grammar 



SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD 

The indicative and imperative moods have been already 
discussed, and need no further treatment here. The sub- 
junctive, however, though of less frequent occurrence, 
requires, on account of the difficulties it presents, more 
detailed treatment. 

142. Subjunctive in Principal Sentences. — The Sub- 
junctive Mood gets its name from the fact that it is 
generally used in subjoined clauses. It has, however, in 
English literature three well-defined uses in principal 
sentences : — 

1. Imperative Subjunctive, expressing a command. This 
differs from the imperative mood, which is never used except 
in the second person : — 

Sit we down, 
And let us hear Bernardo speak of this 

Sing we to our God above 
Praise eternal as his love. 

Come one, come all, this rock shall fly 
From its firm base as soon as I. 

Note. — In modern English prose the imperative mood of the verb 
let, with complementary infinitive, would be used : Let us sit down. Let 
us sing. Let one come, let all come. 

2. Optative Subjunctive, expressing a wish : — 

Thy kingdom come. God bless you ! Light be the earth above thee ! 

Note. — In modern prose we generally use may with complementary 
infinitive : May thy kingdom come. May the earth be light above thee ! 



Subjunctive Mood 131 

3. Subjunctive of Consequence (the condition being fre- 
quently not expressed) : — 

It were madness to attempt it. It were best you let him know. 
It had been so with us, had we been there. 

Note. — In modern prose we should say rather : It would be madness 
to attempt it. It would be best that you let him know. It would have 
been so with us, if we had been there. 

143. Subjunctive in Clauses. — The subjunctive is used 

1. In clauses of Purpose: — 

Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost. 

But that it spread no further, let us straightway threaten them. 

2. In clauses of Result : — 

He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. 
So live that, when thy summons comes . . . 
Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night, 
Scourged to his dungeon, etc. 

3. In Indirect Questions : — 

He shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. 
Whether it be true or false I cannot say. 

4. In Noun clauses : — 

'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here ! 

If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? 

See thou tell no man. 

5. In Time clauses : — 

Come down ere my child die. 

Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he 
find it stopping a bunghole ? 



13 2 English Grammar 

6. In Conditional clauses : — 

If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down. 

If it assume my noble father's person, 

I'll speak to it. 

If I were you, I would not go. 

7. In clauses of Concession : — 

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. 

I will find where truth is hid, though it were nid indeed within the 
centre. 

Note. — Instead of the subjunctive in clauses modern English 
commonly uses the indicative, or the auxiliaries may, might, would, 
should: Come down before my child dies. That nothing may be lost. 
Though he should slay me. In such expressions as " If I were you," 
however, the subjunctive is always used by careful writers and speakers. 

EXERCISE 67 
Classify and parse the verbs in the subjunctive mood : — 

1. Find we another home, a better land, 
Since ours has proved unkind. 

2. Now, brothers, bending o'er the accursed loom, 
Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom. 

3. Come weal or want, come good or ill, 
Let young and old accept their part. 

4. Sleep rock thy brain, 

And never come mischance betwixt us twain ! 

5. Quoth she, " The Devil take the goose, 
And God forget the stranger ! " 

6. Good angels guard thy slumbers ! 

7. Blest be that spot where cheerful guests retire 
To pause from toil and trim their evening fire. 

8. Could Nature's bounty satisfy the breast, 
The sons of Italy were surely blest. 



Subjunctive Mood 133 

9. Mated with a squalid savage — what to me were sun or clime ? 

10. Life piled on life 

Were all too little, and of one to me 
Little remains. 

n. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy 
face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which 
is in secret. 

12. Agree with thine adversary quickly, while then art in the way 
with him ; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and 
the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 

13. If damned custom have not orassed it so, 
That it be proof and bulwark against sense. 

14. 'Tis hard to say if greater want of skill 
Appear in writing or in judging ill. 

15. Twere good she were spoKen with : for she may strew 
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. 

16. Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat 
Thou pardon me my wrong. 

17. One would think his mother's milk were scarce out of him. 

18. Doth our law judge any man before it hear him? 

19. Stay, monster, ere thou sink. 

20. The tree will wither long before it fall. 

21. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. 

22. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth 
alone. 

23. O God ! I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a 
king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. 

24. For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak 
With most miraculous organ. 

25. She refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never 
so wisely. 

26. Then give me leave, that I may turn the key, 
That no man enter till my tale be done. 



134 English Grammar 



MODAL AUXILIARIES 

144. We have seen that the Finite verb, that is, the 
verb limited by a subject, has only three moods : indicative, 
subjunctive, and imperative. The infinitive is really not 
a mood, as it has no subject nominative. 

We have seen also that mood has nothing to do with fact. 
Mood is the tone of affirmation, the manner in which a 
verb says something of its subject, regardless of whether 
the predication is a fact or not a fact. 

Mood is sometimes confounded with the 7neaning of the verb, with 
which mood has nothing to do. To call " can go " the potential mood, 
because potentiality lies in the meaning of can, is to obscure hopelessly 
any right conception of mood. In " I a?n able to walk " and " I can 
walk" the mood is the same. If mood had to do with the meaning of 
the verb, there would be no end to moods. For instance, we might call 
" I will go," the volential mood ; " I beg you to go," the deferential 
mood ; " I am sorry I went," the pe7iitential mood, and so on. In 
" I doubt it," doubt is expressed, but the mood is indicative. 

145. Verb-Phrases made up of the auxiliaries may, 
might, would, and should, with a following infinitive, are 
in the indicative or subjunctive mood, according to the 
conception or the manner of affirmation. These " auxilia- 
ries," however, are often principal verbs ; and can, could, 
and must, often classed as auxiliaries, are always principal 
verbs. But for convenience the uses of all are here given. 
They are followed by the pure infinitive, that is, the infini- 
tive without to. 

It is sometimes difficult to determine whether the verb-phrase repre- 
sents the indicative or the subjunctive mood. In German, for instance, 
the mood is determined for the most part by the form of the auxiliary ; 
but in English the auxiliary forms for both moods are now identical, 
and the mood can be determined only by the sense. The mood of 



Modal Auxiliaries 135 

these words when used as principal verbs is determined in the same 
way as that of any other finite verb. 

In the summary of uses given below, the whole phrase 
is italicized when used as the equivalent of a mood ; when 
the finite verb is principal and not auxiliary, it alone is 
italicized. 

146. Can: — 

Ability : I can read. He can lift that with one hand. 

In both examples, can is in the indicative mood. The verb that 
follows can is to be parsed as the complementary infinitive. In " If 
you can read it, can lift it (and you say you can), why don't you do it ?" 
the mood is indicative. In " If I can find it (a mere supposition), I will 
send it," the mood of can is, according to theory, the subjunctive, though 
in actual practice the indicative is commonly used in English in such 
conditional clauses, as " If it rains, he will not go," " If he is at home, 
tell him." 

Could (past tense of can) : — 

Ability : He could read Latin at ten years of age. I 
could lift a heavier weight some years ago. 

In both examples could is in the indicative. In " If I could (were 
able to) afford it, I would buy it," could is in the subjunctive. 

147. May: — 

1. Possibility : Gather ye roses while ye may. I may 
go yet. 

2. Permission : You may (are permitted to) go now. 

3. Wish : May he live long and happily. 

4. Purpose, etc. : He studies that he may learn. 

I hope he may come. 
I fear he may lose it. 

In I and 2, may is in the indicative ; in 3 and 4 may live, may learn, 
may come, may lose, may be parsed together as the predicate, equiva- 
lents of the subjunctive in such sentences as, " Long live the king," 
" Thy kingdom come" " Gather up the fragments that nothing be lost," 



136 English Grammar 

where in ordinary prose we commonly say, May the king live long, 
May thy kingdom come, that nothing may be lost. 

Might (past tense of may) : — 

1. Possibility : It might (possibly) be true. 

2. Permission : He said I might (was permitted to) go. 

3. Purpose, etc. : He studied that he might learn. 

I hoped he might come. 
I feared he might lose it. 

In 1 and 2, might is in the indicative ; in 3, parse might learn, might 
co?ne, might lose, together, as equivalents of the subjunctive. 

148. Would (past tense of will) : — 

1. Habitual action or state: Coleridge would talk (was 
in the habit of talking) for hours. 

2. Unreal conditional : He would tell, if he knew. 

3. Representing will in indirect discourse : He said he 
would db it (" I will do it"); I thought you would be late 
("You will be late "). 

4. As principal verb : He would not (was not willing to) 
tell. 

5. Wish : Woidd that the night were come. 

1, 3, and 4 are in the indicative. 1 may be parsed as an equivalent 
of the past indicative. In 2 and 5 the mood is subjunctive. 

149. Should (past tense of shall) : — - 

1. Obligation, duty: You should (ought to) write home 
every week. 

2. Unreal conditional : I should tell you, if I knew. 

3. Representing shall in indirect discourse : I thought I 
should freeze (" I shall freeze "). 

4. Equivalent of present subjunctive : It is best that he 
should remain (that he remain) ; If I should see him to-mor- 
row (If I see him to-morrow). 



Conditional Propositions I 37 

5. Equivalent of past indicative: Whom should I meet 
(did I meet). What should he do (did he do). 

"When the priest should ask" — " Taming of the 
Shrew" — (asked, Anglo-Saxon sceolde ascian). 

1, 3, 5 are in the indicative: 2 and 4 are equivalents of the sub- 
junctive. 

150. Must. — In origin a past tense, but now used as 
a present. In "We must obey the law," must should be 
parsed as a verb in the indicative; obey, as infinitive. 
Must, when reference is made to past time, is followed 
by the perfect infinitive : You must have known him 
formerly. 

CONDITIONAL PROPOSITIONS 

151. Clauses expressing condition may be divided into 
three classes : logical, ideal, and unreal. 

1. Logical. Employed for sake of argument — if one 
thing is so, then another thing is so. No doubt is ex- 
pressed. The mood is indicative. 

Examples : — 

If he is breathing, he is living. 

If he says that, he lies. 

If there is a God, he is just. 

If that thou beest a Roman, take it forth. 

If thou beest he . . . thou seest. 

If it was you, then I have nothing more to say. 

If she was without love, she was without hate. 

2. Ideal. A mere supposition, may or may not be true. 
Doubt is implied, and the mood is subjunctive. 

Examples : — 

If there be a God, he ought to be just. 

If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. 

If it assume {should assume) my noble father's person, I'll speak to it. 



138 English Grammar 

Instead of the subjunctive according to theory, in modern English the 
indicative is more commonly used, even in mere suppositions ; as, " If it 
rains to-morrow, I shall not go ; " " If he is at home, tell him to send 
the book." The more modern equivalents of the ideal subjunctive are 
also in common use : " If you should see him, let me know " ; " If he 
should return, he would be arrested." 

3. Unreal. Condition not fulfilled. The past subjunctive 
is used to express unreality in the present time ; the past 
perfect, unreality in the past. 

Examples : — 

If I were you, I should go. 

If he were here, he could speak for himself. 

If I knew, I would tell you. 

If I had been in your place, I should have done so. 

If he had been here, he could have spoken for himself. 

If I had known, I would have told you. 

EXERCISE 68 
Parse the verbs and verb-phrases : — 

1. I cannot tell where he is. 2. You may go to-morrow. 3. My 
fingers are so numb I cannot write. 4. May your shadow never grow 
less! 5. I could not see my hand before my face. 6. He may return 
sooner than you think. 7. I would help you if I could. 8. I hope you 
may succeed. 9. Enjoy your holiday while you may. 10. You may have 
been mistaken. 11. He might have answered more politely. 12. They 
feared they might lose their way. 13. I thought he would be here 
before this. 14. It is better that I should stay where I am. 15. The 
old sailor would entertain us for hours with stories of his early life. 
16. If he had stuck to it, he could have made his fortune. 17. He 
would not answer my question. 18. We should do to others as 
we would that they should do to us. 19. When seven o'clock came 
he would shoulder his axe and go to the woods. 20. If he should not 
be at home, leave a message for him. 21. He gave orders that the spy 
should be shot at daybreak. 22. If he has my mail, I will turn back 
home. 23. If you had a message for me, why didn't you deliver it 
sooner ? 24. If I were not busy to-day I should go hunting. 25. If I 



Shall and Will 



*39 



had seen him, I should have told him. 26. If I see him to-morrow, I 
will tell him. 27. If I had been there, he would not have escaped. 
28. Had he known it earlier he could have saved you the trouble. 



USES OF SHALL AND WILL 

152. Shall and will are auxiliaries of tense when they 
denote futurity (see 110) ; otherwise they are principal 
verbs with complementary infinitive, will in the first per- 
son denoting volition or determination, shall in the second 
and third persons denoting promise or compulsion. As 
these words are often misused, the following table 1 is 
given to show in what ways they may be correctly used. 



To Express 



ist Pers. 



2D AND 3D 

Pers. 



Examples 



I. Futurity 



2. Quesdon 



3. Determina- 
tion 



4. Promise 



5. Compulsion 



shall 



shall 



will 



will 



shall 



will 



shall, will 



will 



shall 



shall 



f I shall come to-morrow. 
i You will get back late. 
[ He will arrive first. 

f Shall I pass ? 
\ Shall you pass ? 
[ Will he pass ? 

f I will have my own way. 

< You will have your own way. 
[He will have his own way. 

{I will pay you to-morrow. 
You shall be paid to-morrow. 
He shall be paid to-morrow. 

f He says I shall do it. 

< Thou shall not steal. 
[ He shall surely die. 



1 From West's " English Grammar.' 



140 English Grammar 

EXERCISE 69 
Compose and write : — 

1 . Sentences containing three uses of may. 

2. Sentences containing three uses of might. 

3. Sentences containing three uses of would. 

4. Sentences containing three uses of should. 

5. A sentence containing a logical condition. 

6. A sentence containing an ideal condition. 

7. A sentence containing an unreal condition. 

THE INFINITIVE 

153. The Infinitive, although it has the meaning of the 
verb, has not the function of the verb, that is, it does not 
of itself predicate anything of a subject. The verb which 
predicates something of a subject is limited to agree 
with that subject, and hence is called finite (limited). But 
the infinitive is used only as adjunct or complement of the 
predicate, or as object or subject of a verb, or with 
the auxiliaries to form tenses, or as modifier of nouns, 
or adjectives, or adverbs, — not as the verb proper of 
a sentence. 

Primarily, the infinitive denotes the act or state expressed 
by the verb put in the form of a noun; and most of its 
uses may be traced back to this noun use. Some of them, 
however, are distinct from the uses of ordinary nouns ; 
others are equivalent to prepositional phrases. 

154. Omission of to. — The infinitive is usually preceded 
by to, which has come to be regarded as a part of it. But 
the infinitive is used without to : — 

1. After do, will, shall, may, can, must, usually after 
certain other verbs such as bid, dare, need, let, see, hear, 



The Infinitive 141 

make ', feel, help, have (= cause), and sometimes alter please 
and go : — 

Go see where he is. You need not wait. 

Will you make him comet Bid him make haste. 

You dare not do it. I heard him call. 

When the verb upon which the infinitive depends is in the passive 
voice, the to is regularly used : — 

He was heard to say it. He was seen to do it. 

2. In certain idioms. 

(1) After had rather, had better, had as lief, etc. : — 

I had rather be a doorkeeper. 
You had better go and see. 

(2) In certain elliptical phrases. 

(a) Of comparison : — 

As well pay now as later. 

Better do it now than put it off till to-morrow. 

(b) Exclamatory and interrogative : — 

What ! be gone all day and not catch a fish ! 
Why not tell him! 

(c) After but: — 

He cannot choose but hear. 
We can but try. 

155. Uses of the Infinitive. — It may be used : — 

1. As subject : — 

To err is human. 

To be contents his natural desire. 

2. As predicate noun (predicate nominative) : — 

To see is to believe. 

To know her is to love her. 



142 English Grammar 

3. As object of a transitive verb : — 

I like to read Kipling's stories. 
He preferred to stay at home. 
She intends to teach. 

4. After the prepositions about, but, except: — 

They were about to leave. 

There was nothing left for me but to give my consent. 

He did nothing but read. 

He cared for nothing except to make money. 

5. To modify or complete the meaning of verbs, nouns, 
adjectives, and adverbs. In these cases it may be parsed 
as a complementary infinitive to the word it limits. 

(a) After verbs, to express purpose, consequence, and 
the like: — 

He came to see us. 

It came to pass. 

He was ordered to surrender. 

(b) After nouns : — 

They had no rule to go by. 
Jones has a fine horse to sell. 
Give me something to eat. 

(c) After adjectives : — 

I am glad to see you. 
He was the first to speak. 

(d) After adverbs : — 

He was not strong enough to lift it. 
They arrived too late to catch the train. 

6. After certain verbs the infinitive, preceded by a noun 
or pronoun in the objective case, forms with it a substan- 
tive phrase, which is the object of the verb : — 



The Infinitive 143 

I saw him fall. 

She asked him to come. 

He ordered the regiment to advance. 

In the passive construction the infinitive is retained, and may be 
parsed as complementary infinitive : — 

The regiment was ordered to advance. 

7. In parenthetical phrases : — 

To be sure, I have not known him long. 

He is not a scholar, so to speak, but he is well read. 

To tell you the truth, I do not like him. 

8. In exclamations : — 

I, to desist from my purpose ? Never ! 
I, to herd with narrow foreheads ! 
He turn traitor ? 

EXERCISE 70 

Parse the infinitives : — 

1. They bade him be gone. 2. May it please your highness sit? 
3. What makes that ship drive on so fast? 4. You need but gaze on 
Ellen's eye. 5. I think Captain Channel had better hasten home. 
6. Like the Chaldean, he could watch the stars. 7. To be good is to 
be happy. 8. He sought to slay Moses. 9. I purpose to write the 
history of England. 10. He frankly avowed himself to be Wilfred of 
Ivanhoe. 11. There is no time to waste. 12. I have the wish, but 
want the will to act. 13. What's to come is still unsure. 14. At my 
age, to talk to me of such stuff ! 15. I came to save, and not destroy. 
16. What had he done to make him fly the land? 17. Such a one do 
I remember, whom to look at was to love. 18. Well, — to make a long 
story short, — he won the race. 19. If you have tears, prepare to shed 
them now. 20. I must not have you question me. 21. Let us go visit 
Faustus. 22. I am shamed through all my nature to have loved so 
slight a thing. 

23. He resolved, rather than yield, 
To die with honor in the field. 



144 English Grammar 

24. The mariners all 'gan work the ropes 
Where they were wont to do. 

25. No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet 
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet. 

26. This quiet sail is as a noiseless wing 
To waft me from distraction. 

27. I cannot bear 
The murmur of this lake to hear. 

28. Forward, forward let us range ; 
Let the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves 

of change. 

29. Thou art alive still while thy book doth live, 
And we have wits to read, and praise to give. 

30. Fair daffodils, we weep to see 
You haste away so soon. 

31. I still had hopes, my long vexations past, 



32. Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, 
More skilled to raise the wretched than to rise. 

33. Even now, methinks, as pondering here I stand, 
I see the rural virtues leave the land. 

34. Behold surrounding kings their powers combine, 
And one capitulate, and one resign. 

35. Who could refrain 

That had a heart to love, and in that heart 
Courage to make's love known ? 

EXERCISE 71 
Compose and write : — 

1. A sentence containing infinitives as subject nominative and as 
predicate nominative. 



Verbal Nouns and Participles 145 

2. A sentence with an infinitive as object of a preposition. 

3. A sentence with a complementary infinitive after an intransitive 
verb. 

4. A sentence with a complementary infinitive after a noun. 

5. A sentence with a complementary infinitive after an adjective. 

6. A sentence with a complementary infinitive after an adverb. 

7. A sentence containing an exclamatory infinitive. 

VERBAL NOUNS AND PARTICIPLES 

156. Words formed from verbs by the ending -ing may- 
be either present participles or nouns. To which class 
they belong must be determined by their use in the 
sentence. In " Seeing is believing," seeing and believing 
are nouns ; in " Seeing him fall, and believing him to be 
seriously hurt, I ran to help him," seeing and believing 
are participles. 

157. Verbal Nouns. — Verbal Nouns in -ing may be 
divided into two classes : — 

1. Those having the ordinary construction and inflection 
of nouns, but not the governing power of the verb : — 

This is a true saying. 

His teachings have had great influence. 

I will do your bidding.^ 

This was his being^s end and aim. 

I know all the windings of the river. 

2. Those that take an object, a predicate noun or 
adjective, or other other adjuncts of the verb: — 

Making promises is not keeping them. 

He enjoyed readiiig your letter. 

I could not keep him from breaking the seal. 

You cannot prevent his going home. 

He is sure of Jindifig friends enough. 



146 English Grammar 

158. Verbal nouns of the second class are commonly 
called Gerunds. 

159. Confusion of Gerund and Participle. — The gerund 
is generally distinct from the participle in meaning and in 
construction. Thus, in " I saw him coming," coming is a 
participle belonging to him, the object of saw. In " I am 
sure of his coming in time," coming is a verbal noun in the 
objective case after of, and his is a possessive case modify- 
ing coming. 

In the latter sentence the true substantive is the word expressing the 
action ; it is the coining of which the speaker is sure ; and the word that 
represents the subject of the action (I am sure that he will come) 
becomes merely an adjunct of the verbal noun, a possessive case. 

The principle which calls for the possessive construction 
with the gerund is regularly observed when the subject of 
the action is represented by a pronoun ; but in the case 
of nouns, some confusion has arisen in the language 
between the gerund and the participle, and in consequence 
we often find such expressions as " He could not prevent 
his son going to war," "Who ever heard of an army 
superior in numbers retreating without a blow ? " where 
the verbal noun is treated as if it were a participle. 

160. Participles. — Participles have already been defined 
as verbal adjectives. They stand in the same relation to 
other adjectives that verbal nouns do to other nouns. 
They may be used 

1 . Attributively : — 

A smiling face. Written directions. The contracting parties. 
The swelling river hurries to the sea. 

In this use the participle is construed as a simple adjec- 
tive, and admits only the adjuncts of the adjective, that is, 



Verbal Nouns and Participles 147 

adverbs, but not objects and other verb modifiers. Some 
participles, however, admit what is really an object as a 
prefixed defining element — usually united with the par- 
ticiple by a hyphen : A god-fearing man. Ear-piercing 
shrieks were heard. 

The participle in this use sometimes stands without its noun (see 
80) : The exalted are brought low. The loving are the daring. 

2. Appositively (see 134, 2) : — 

Banners bearing strange devices floated from the gables. 
We forded several streams swollen by the recent rains. 
Defeated in his attempts, he abandoned his purpose. 

3. As a part of the predicate : — 

(a) As predicate adjective, agreeing with the subject : — 

They were talking. I have been considering the matter. You are 
invited to attend. She became acquainted with him later. 

{¥) As predicate adjective, agreeing with the object : — 

I heard them talking. He left the town well fortified and provisioned. 
John is having a new coat made. 

(c) Adverbially : — 

They came running. He went whistling down the road. 

Observe that in this use the participle, though construed with the 
subject, has the value of a predicate modifier — an adverb phrase or 
clause. 

In uses 2 and 3 the participle may take all the adjuncts of the verb 
from which it is formed. 

4. Absolutely, with a noun or pronoun in the nominative 

case : — 

The secretary being absent, no business was done. 
The weather permitting, I shall sail to-morrow. 
She consenting, we took a long walk. 

The participle being is often omitted : Breakfast {being) over, they 
started. 



148 English Grammar 

161. Use of the Participle in Verb Phrases. — The predi- 
cate use of the present participle with the auxiliary be 
forms the continuous or progressive tenses ; and the like 
use of the perfect participle with the same auxiliary forms 
the passive voice (rarely, the perfect and past perfect of 
intransitive verbs) : — 

We are working. 

The house has been sold. 

He is gone. 

The perfect participle with the auxiliary have is used to 
form the perfect and past perfect tenses : — 

I have seen him. 

They had not been there long. 

These verb phrases, however, should, in analyzing, be 
parsed as grammatical units. 

EXERCISE 72 
Parse the verbal nouns and the participles : — 

1. The children stood watching them out of the town. 

2. There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. 

3. Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle 

won. 

4. But Satan now is wiser than of yore, 

And tempts by making rich, not making poor. 

5. Leave writing plays, and choose for thy command 
Some peaceful province in Acrostic-Land. 

6. Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, 
And pause a while from learning to be wise. 

7. The dancing pair, that simply sought renown, 
By holding out to tire each other down. 



Verbal Nouns and Participles 149 

8. He with his horrid crew 
Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, 
Confounded though immortal. 

9. I am in blood 
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, 
Returning were as tedious as go o'er. 

10. Here lay Duncan, 

His silver skin laced with his golden blood ; 

And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature, 

For ruin's wasteful entrance. 

1 1 . Let us, then, be up and doing, 

With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 
Learn to labor and to wait. 

12. Thou comest not when violets lean 

O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen, 
Or columbines, in purple dressed, 
Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest. 

13. For a cap and bells our lives we pay, 
Bubbles we buy with a whole soul's tasking ; 
Tis Heaven alone that is given away, 

'Tis only God may be had for the asking. 

14. In vain we call old notions fudge, 

And bend our conscience to our dealing ; 
The Ten Commandments will not budge, 
And stealing will continue stealing. 

15. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, 
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. 

16. Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, 
Soon again I heard a tapping, somewhat louder than before. 

17. But, scarce observed, the knowing and the bold 
Fall in the general massacre of gold ; 
Wide-wasting pest ! that rages unconfined, 
And crowds with crime the records of mankind ; 



150 English Grammar 

For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws, 
For gold the hireling judge distorts the laws ; 
Wealth heaped on wealth nor truth nor safety buys, 
The dangers gather as the treasures rise. 

1 8. Our actions, depending upon ourselves, may be controlled, while 
the powers of thinking, originating in higher causes, cannot always be 
moulded to our wishes. 

EXERCISE 73 

Compose and write : — 

i. Sentences containing verbal nouns in all three cases. 

2. Sentences containing gerunds as subject, as object of a verb, and 
as object of a preposition. 

3. A sentence containing a present participle used attributively. 

4. A sentence containing a present participle used substantively 
(noun omitted). 

5 . A sentence containing a present participle used appositively. 

6. A sentence containing a present participle used as predicate 
adjective. 

7. A sentence containing a present participle used adverbially. 

8. A sentence containing a present participle used absolutely. 



GENERAL REVIEW 

Miscellaneous examples for parsing and analysis : — 

i . The armaments which thunderstrike the walls 
Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake, 
And monarchs tremble in their capitals, 
The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make 
Their clay creator the vain title take 
Of lord of thee and arbiter of war — 
These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake, 
They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar 
Alike the Armada's pride, or spoils of Trafalgar. — Byron. 

2. The world is too much with us : late and soon, 
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers ; 
Little we see in Nature that is ours ; 

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon ! 

The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon ; 

The winds that will be howling at all hours, 

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers ; 

For this, for everything, we are out of tune ; 

It moves us not. Great God ! Pd rather be 

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn ; 

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, 

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn ; 

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea ; 

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn. — Wordsworth. 

3. I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, 

From the seas and the streams ; 
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid 
In their noon-day dreams. 

151 



i^2 English Grammar 

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken 

The sweet buds every one, 
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, 

As she dances about the sun. 
I wield the flail of the lashing hail, 

And whiten the green plains under, 
And then again I dissolve it in rain 

And laugh as I pass in thunder. —Shelley. 

4. Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are ! 
And glory to our Sovereign Liege, King Henry of Navarre ! 
Now let there be the merry sound of music and of dance, 
Through thy corn-fields green and sunny vines, O pleasant land of 

France ! 
And thou, Rochelle, our own Rochelle, proud city of the waters, 
Again let rapture light the eyes of all thy mourning daughters. 
As thou wert constant in our ills, be joyous in our joy ; 
For cold and stiff and still are they who wrought thy walls annoy. 
Hurrah ! hurrah ! a single field hath turned the chance of war ! 
Hurrah ! hurrah ! for Ivry and King Henry of Navarre ! — Macaulay. 

5. So said he, and the barge with oar and sail 
Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan 
That, fluting a wild carol ere her death, 

Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood 
With swarthy webs. Long stood Sir Bedivere 
Revolving many memories, till the hull 
Looked one black dot against the verge of dawn, 
And on the mere the wailing died away. — Tennyson. 

6. How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank ! 
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music 
Creep in our ears : soft stillness and the night 
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 

Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven 
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold : 
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st 
But in his motion like an angel sings, 
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins ; 
Such harmony is in immortal souls ; 



General Review 153 

But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 

Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. — Shakspere. 

7. For I have learned 

To look on nature, not as in the hour 

Of thoughtless youth ; but hearing oftentimes 

The still, sad music of humanity, 

Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power 

To chasten and subdue. And I have felt 

A presence that disturbs me with the joy 

Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime 

Of something far more deeply interfused, 

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 

And the round ocean, and the living air, 

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man : 

A motion and a spirit, that impels 

All thinking things, all objects of all thought, j 

And rolls through all things. — Wordsworth. 

8. He will watch from dawn to gloom 
The lake-reflected sun illume 
The yellow bees in the ivy-bloom, 
Nor heed nor see what things they be ; 
But from these create he can 

Forms more real than living man, 
Nurslings of immortality. — Shelley. 

9. St. Agnes' Eve — ah, bitter chill it was ! 
The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold ; 

The hare limped trembling through the frozen grass, 

And silent was the flock in woolly fold ; 

Numb were the Beadsman's fingers, while he told 

His rosary, and while his frosted breath, 

Like pious incense from a censer old, 

Seemed taking flight for heaven without a death, 

Past the sweet Virgin's picture, while his prayer he saith. — Keats. 

10. Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled, 
And still where many a garden flower grows wild : 
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, 
The village preacher's modest mansion rose. 



154 English Grammar 

A man he was to all the country dear, 

And passing rich with forty pounds a year : 

Remote from towns he ran his godly race, 

Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change his place ; 

Unpractised he to fawn, or seek for power, 

By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour ; 

Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, 

More skilled to raise the wretched than to rise. — Goldsmith. 

ii. Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise, 
That last infirmity of noble minds, 
To scorn delights, and live laborious days ; , 
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, 
And think to burst out into sudden blaze, 
Comes the blind Fury, with the abhorred shears, 
And slits the thin-spun life. — Milton. 

12. How sleep the brave who sink to rest, 
By all their country's wishes blest ! 
When spring, with dewy fingers cold, 
Returns to deck their hallowed mould, 
She there shall dress a sweeter sod 
Than fancy's feet have ever trod. 
By fairy hands their knell is rung : 
By forms unseen their dirge is sung ; 
There honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; 
And freedom shall awhile repair, 
To dwell, a weeping hermit, there ! — Collins. 



COMPOSITION 
CHAPTER I 

SENTENCES 

1. Composition means putting together. We speak of 
the composition of a committee, meaning the persons or 
the sort of persons of which it is made up ; or of the 
composition of a picture, meaning the things the painter 
puts into his picture and the way he arranges them. So, 
in language work, composition means the way in which 
facts and thoughts are put together in words when we 
want to tell something. 

2. Composition may be either spoken or written. You 
are making a composition just as really when you are tell- 
ing your friends by word of mouth what you did last 
Fourth of July as if you were writing a story for The 
Youth's Companion. Whenever you have something in 
your mind and try to tell it, you are attempting composi- 
tion, trying to get something said. 

EXERCISE 1 

Tell why you were late to school one day last week. 
Tell why the American colonies revolted from British rule. 
Tell where Evangeline went in search of Gabriel. 
Tell how to do an example in long division. 
Tell how to make a kite. 
What makes a trolley-car go ? 
155 



1^6 English Grammar 

Why is baseball not a good game for cold weather ? 

How can you tell an oak from a maple, fifty feet away ? 

You know just how this schoolhouse looks ; you would know it from 
any other building in the town, even if it were moved to a different site. 
Describe it so that a stranger would know at once what building you 
mean. 

There was a quarrel between two boys of your acquaintance the 
other day. What was it about ? Who was to blame ? 

Tell about the best thing you saw at the show. 

Tell what the man who lives next door does for a living. 

3. There is a good deal of difference between knowing 
a thing and being able to tell it. To be able to tell a 
thing well is an art that comes only by training and prac- 
tice. It is the object of this and the following chapters to 
give suggestions and exercises that will help you to speak, 
and afterward to write, in a way that will be satisfactory 
to you and clear and acceptable to those to whom you are 
speaking or for whom you are writing. But first of all, 
you must be sure what it is you are trying to say ; and in 
the second place, you must really know before you can tell 
anybody else. 

EXERCISE 2 

What does the fire company do when the alarm is sounded ? 
Tell what was the matter with your work in arithmetic (or in man- 
ual training, or in grammar) the last time. 

Tell the difference between a grub and a caterpillar. 
Tell how to hem a towel. 
Tell the difference between a bat and a bird. 
What is the difference between a hat and a bonnet ? 
What becomes of the rain ? 

4. When we have something to say we say it in sen- 
tences ; we compose or put together words in a way that 
will convey our meaning. Thus " The man that lives 
next door to us used to have a big Newfoundland dog " 



Composition 157 

is a sentence, because it tells us something ; but " the man 
that lives next door to us " is not a sentence, nor is " used 
to have a big Newfoundland dog " a sentence. It takes 
the two parts to give the meaning intended. So " When 
I first heard that he was to be captain " is not a sentence, 
but " When I first heard that he was to be captain, I was a 
good deal surprised " is a sentence. 1 

EXERCISE 3 

Of the following, which are complete sentences and 
which are not ? 

Monday in some schools, in some schools Saturday 
Saturday is a holiday in some schools 
When good King Arthur ruled this land 
I don't think any one knows 
Why swallows build their nests in chimneys 
The train comes in at two o'clock 
And waits here twenty minutes 

Although I have passed him on the streets a dozen times 
I do not know his name 

Though I have passed him on the street a hundred times 
When I was on my way to school 
And he, I suppose, going to his office 
There are two doors opening into the room 

One that opens from the hallway and the other from the side porch 
As soon as I was clear of the thicket I ran as I never ran before 
Scarce minding the direction of my flight so long as it led me from 
the murderers 

And as I ran, fear grew and grew upon me 
Until it turned into a kind of frenzy 

Copy these and group them into complete sentences, 
using the proper punctuation marks, correcting the use 
of capitals, and adding words where it is necessary to do 
so in order to have a sentence. 

1 But see 17. 



158 English Grammar 

5. In the following paragraph, some of the sentences give 
us two or more facts. Show that the parts of these sen- 
tences are related in thought, and show in each case what 
is the common idea that holds the parts together. 

It was agreeable upon the river. A barge or two went past laden 
with hay. Reeds and willows bordered the stream ; and cattle and 
gray, venerable horses came and hung their mild heads over the 
embankment. Here and there was a pleasant village among trees, 
with a noisy shipping-yard; here and there a villa in a lawn. The 
wind served us well up the Scheldt and thereafter up the Rupel ; and we 
were running pretty free when we began to sight the brickyards of 
Boom, lying for a long way on the right bank of the river. The left 
bank was still green and pastoral, with alleys of trees along the em- 
bankment, and here and there a flight of steps to serve a ferry, where 
perhaps there sat a woman with her elbows on her knees, or an old 
gentleman with a staff and silver spectacles. But Boom and its brick- 
yards grew smokier and shabbier with every minute ; until a great church 
with a clock, and a wooden bridge over the river, indicated the central 
quarters of the town. 

— Stevenson, An Inland Voyage. 

EXERCISE 4 

In how many sentences should the following passage be 
written ? Copy it, putting a period instead of a comma at 
the end of each sentence, and beginning each sentence 
with a capital letter. 

The river was more dangerous here ; it ran swifter, the eddies were 
more sudden and violent, all the way down we had our fill of difficulties, 
sometimes it was a wear which could be shot, sometimes one so shallow 
and full of stakes that we must withdraw the boats from the water and 
carry them round, but the chief sort of obstacle was a consequence of 
the late high winds, every two or three hundred yards a tree had fallen 
across the river, and usually involved more than another in its fall, often 
there was free water at the end, and we could steer round the leafy 
promontory and hear the water sucking and bubbling among the twigs, 
often, again, when the tree reached from bank to bank, there was room, 



Composition 159 

by lying close, to shoot through underneath, canoe and all, sometimes 
it was necessary to get out upon the bank itself and pull the boats 
across ; and sometimes, where the stream was too impetuous for this, 
there was nothing for it but to land and " carry over," this made a fine 
series of accidents in the day's career, and kept us aware of ourselves. 

6. Read the following passage from The Vicar of 
Wakefield. How many of the sentences consist of two 
or more parts separated by semicolons ? Show how the 
parts of these sentences are related in thought. 

As we rose with the sun, so we never pursued our labor after it was 
gone down, but returned home to the expecting family ; where smiling 
looks, a neat hearth, and pleasant fire, were prepared for our reception. 
Nor were we without guests ; sometimes Farmer Flamborough, our 
talkative neighbor, and often the blind piper, would pay us a visit and 
taste our gooseberry wine ; for the making of which we had lost neither 
the receipt nor the reputation. These harmless people had several 
ways of being good company ; while one played, the other would sing 
some soothing ballad, Johnny Armstrongs Last Good-Night, or The 
Cruelty of Barbara Allen. The night was concluded in the manner 
we began the morning, my youngest boys being appointed to read the 
lessons of the day ; and he that read loudest, distinctest, and best, was 
to have a half-penny on Sunday to put in the poor's box. 

When Sunday came, it was indeed a day of finery, which all my 
sumptuary edicts could not restrain. How well soever I fancied my 
lectures against pride had conquered the vanity of my daughters, yet 
I found them still secretly attached to all their former finery ; they still 
loved laces, ribbons, bugles, and catgut; my wife herself retained a 
passion for her crimson paduasoy, because I formerly happened to say 
that it became her. 

► EXERCISE 5 

In the following passage, consider what sentences should 
be joined together to make longer sentences ; then copy 
the selection, writing a semicolon and a small letter instead 
of a period and a capital letter where you join two sentences 
into one : — 



160 English Grammar 

The first Sunday in particular their behavior served to mortify me. 
I had desired my girls the preceding night to be dressed early the next 
day. For I always love to be at church a good while before the rest of 
the congregation. They punctually obeyed my directions. But when 
we were to assemble in the morning at breakfast, down came my wife 
and daughters dressed out in all their former splendor. Their hair 
plastered up with pomatum, their faces patched to taste, their trains 
bundled up in a heap behind and rustling at every motion. I could not 
help smiling at their vanity, particularly that of my wife, from whom I 
expected more discretion. In this exigency, therefore, my only recourse 
was to order my son, with an important air, to call our coach. The 
girls were amazed at the command. 

" Surely, my dear, you jest," cried my wife. " We can walk it per- 
fectly well. We want no coach to carry us now." 

"You mistake, child," returned I. "We do want a coach. For if 
we walk to church in this trim, the very children in the parish will hoot 
after us." 

" Indeed," replied my wife, " I always imagined that my Charles was 
fond of seeing his children neat and handsome about him." 

" You may be as neat as you please," interrupted I. " And I shall 
love you the better for it. But all this is not neatness, but frippery. 
These rufflings, and pinkings, and patchings will only make us hated 
by all the wives of all our neighbors. No, my children," continued I, 
more gravely. "Those gowns may be altered into something of a 
plainer cut. For finery is very unbecoming in us, who want the means 
of decency. I do not know whether such flouncing and shredding is 
becoming even in the rich, if we consider that, upon a moderate calcula- 
tion, the nakedness of the indigent world might be clothed from the 
trimmings of the vain." 

This remonstrance had a proper effect. They went with great com- 
posure, that very instant, to change their dress. And the next day I 
had the satisfaction of finding my daughters, at their own request, 
employed in cutting up their trains into Sunday waistcoats for Dick 
and Bill, the two little ones. And what was still more satisfactory, the 
gowns seemed improved by this curtailing. 

EXERCISE 6 

Justify each use of the semicolon and of the comma in Exercises 4 
and 5, as you have written them, by the rules on pages 225-229. 



Composition 161 

7. Read over carefully this account of 

BUILDING A FORT 

The next morning our fort was planned and marked out. The cir- 
cumference measured four hundred and fifty-five feet, which would require 
as many palisades to be made of trees, one with another, of a foot diam- 
eter each. Our axes, of which we had seventy, were immediately set 
to work to cut down trees, and, our men being dextrous in the use of 
them, great despatch was made. Seeing the trees fall so fast, I had 
the curiosity to look at my watch when two men began to cut at a pine ; 
in six minutes they had it upon the ground, and I found it of fourteen 
inches diameter. Each pine made three palisades of eighteen feet long, 
pointed at one end. While these were preparing, our other men dug 
a trench all round, three feet deep, in which the palisades were to be 
planted ; and taking the bodies off our wagons and separating the fore 
and hind wheels by taking out the pin which united the two parts of 
the perch, we had ten carriages, with two horses each, to bring the pal- 
isades from the woods to the spot. When they were set up, our car- 
penters built a stage of boards all round within, about six feet high, 
for men to stand on when they fired through the loopholes. We had 
one swivel gun, which we mounted on one of the angles, and fired it 
as soon as fixed, to let the Indians know, if any were within hearing, 
that we had such pieces. Thus our fort, if such a magnificent name 
may be given to so miserable a stockade, was finished in a week, 
though it rained so hard every other day that the men could not work. 
— Franklin, Autobiography (adapted) . 

Such is Franklin's account of the building of the stock- 
ade at Gnadenhut in Pennsylvania, during the French and 
Indian War. Of course he knew all about it, for he was 
in charge of the work; but as this account was written 
out more than thirty years afterward, he must either 
have made notes at the time or drawn the facts from his 
memory when he came to write. The facts were there, 
but Franklin had to think the whole thing over before he 
was ready to tell any one else about it. 

8. The best way to call to mind what you already know 



1 62 English Grammar 

about a subject is to ask yourself questions about.it. Sup- 
pose you are trying to tell how you once made a raft, or 
a snow fort, or a pen for some pet animal. Examine your 
memory systematically till you have considered all the 
things you did, and why you did them ; when and where 
you did the work, how you planned it, what materials 
you used, and so forth. 

EXERCISE 7 

Tell the class about something that you have made — when, where, 
why, and how you made it. 

9. Even in the case of things that you did not do your- 
self, but have only heard or read about, this method of 
questioning will be of service. Suppose you are asked to 
tell about the Declaration of Independence. You know the 
story well enough, no doubt ; but it will help you to tell 
what you know if you ask yourself some such questions 

as these : — 

By whom was the Declaration made? 

Why did they make it ? 

Who drew it up? 

When was it made? 

Where was it made ? 

What effect did it have? 

In this way you will find out just how much you do 

know, and will bring the facts to mind so that you can tell 

them. 

EXERCISE 8 

Tell what you know about the Declaration of Independence. 

10. In the passage from The Vicar of Wakefield in 
Section 6, the sentences are rather longer than you are 
accustomed to find in your reading nowadays, much 
longer than you use yourself. Short sentences are better 



Composition 163 

for your work, not because long sentences are incorrect or 
bad in themselves, but because it is easier to make clear 
and correct short sentences than it is to make clear and 
correct long ones. The ability to write good long sen- 
tences will come in time, after you have learned to write 
clear and correct short sentences. The advantage of the 
long sentence is that, when well made, it often expresses 
complex ideas and the relations of things better than the 
short sentence does. For the present your need is to get 
your thoughts disentangled, to take them clearly one by 
one. Indeed, there are few writers now who use so many 
long and intricate sentences as were used two or three 
hundred years ago. The shortening and simplifying of 
the sentences is one of the ways in which English prose 
has been improved in the last century. 

11. The advantage of the short sentence may be seen 
by comparing the paragraphs that follow. The first two 
are from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which 
was written in recent years (published in 1883); the last 
from Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, which was written nearly 
two hundred years ago (published in 1719). 

(1) Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an inn far down the 
docks, to superintend the work upon the schooner. Thither we had 
now to walk, and our way, to my great delight, lay along the quays and 
beside the great multitude of ships of all sizes and rigs and nations. In 
one, sailors were singing at their work ; in another, there were men 
aloft, high over my head, hanging to threads that seemed no thicker 
than a spider's. Though I had lived by the shore all my life, I seemed 
never to have been near the sea till then. The smell of tar and salt 
was something new. I saw the most wonderful figureheads, that had 
all been far over the ocean. I saw, besides, many old sailors, with 
rings in their ears, and whiskers curled in ringlets, and tarry pigtails, 
and their swaggering, clumsy sea walk ; and if I had seen as many 
kings or archbishops, I could not have been more delighted. 



164 English Grammar 

(2) All the time he lived with us the captain made no change what- 
ever in his dress but to buy some stockings of a hawker. One of the 
cocks of his hat having fallen down, he let it hang from that day forth, 
though it was a great annoyance when it blew. I remember the appear- 
ance of his coat, which he patched himself upstairs in his room, and 
which, before the end, was nothing but patches. He never wrote or 
received a letter, and he never spoke with any but the neighbors, and 
with these, for the most part, only when drunk on rum. The great 
sea chest none of us had ever seen open. 

(3) Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt, 
when I sunk into the water ; for though I swam very well, yet I could 
not deliver myself from the waves so as to draw my breath, till that 
wave, having driven me, or rather carried me, a vast way on towards 
the shore, and having spent itself, went back, and left me upon the 
land almost dry, but half dead with the water I took in. I had so 
much presence of mind, as well as breath, left, that, seeing myself nearer 
the mainland than I expected, I got upon my feet, and endeavored to 
make on towards the land as fast as I could, before another wave should 
return and take me up again ; but I soon found it was impossible to 
avoid it ; for I saw the sea coming after me as high as a great hill, and 
as furious as an enemy which I had no means or strength to contend 
with : my business was to hold my breath, and raise myself upon the 
water, if I could ; and so, by swimming, to preserve my breathing, and 
pilot myself towards the shore, if possible ; my greatest concern now 
being that the wave, as it would carry me a great way towards the 
shore when it came on, might not carry me back again with it when it 
gave back towards the sea. 

12. The sentences in this last paragraph are by no 
means models to be followed. The difference between these 
sentences and Stevenson's is partly a matter of punctua- 
tion ; in Defoe's day the colon, and often the semicolon, 
was used where now we use the period and begin a new 
sentence. But there is a greater difference. No mere 
changes in punctuation will make Defoe's sentences as 
good as Stevenson's, because in Stevenson's the ideas are 
separately grasped and distinctly presented, while in De- 



Composition 165 

foe's they are entangled, another begun before one is 
finished. Such sentences are said to be rambling and to 
lack unity. Lack of unity is the most common fault in 
long sentences. 

EXERCISE 9 

See how much you can improve the sentences in the paragraph from 
Robinson Crusoe simply by changes in punctuation. 

Try to rewrite the passage from The Vicar of Wakefield and the 
paragraph from Robinson Crtisoe in sentences as simple as Stevenson's. 

EXERCISE 10 

Justify each use of the comma and of the semicolon in what you 
wrote for the last exercise by the rules on pages 225-229. 

13. If you do not know enough already about the thing 
of which you are trying to tell, you must proceed to find 
out more about it. This you can do sometimes by observing 
for yourself, sometimes by asking other people, sometimes 
by reading in books. Questions like those in Sections 8 
and 9 will help to show you not only what you know, 
but what you need to know. Then you can ask others, 
or perhaps go and see for yourself. 

Suppose you are asked to tell about the city hall, or 
some other important building in the town. Study the 
subject by means of the following questions, — and as 
many others as may suggest themselves to you. If in 
any case you do not know the answer to your question, try 
to find out. See for yourself if you can, and if you cannot, 
ask people that you think will know the facts. 

Where is it ? On what street or streets does it face ? 

When was it built ? How large is it ? What is it made of? 

For what are the rooms on the ground floor used ? 

What other rooms are there, and for what are they used ? 

Have you ever been in it ? On what occasion ? What did you see ? 



1 66 English Grammar 

EXERCISE 11 
Write out your composition on the subject studied above. 

At the head of the paper, about two inches from the top, write the 
title, beginning the first word and all the other important words with 
capital letters, and spacing so that the title will stand equally distant 
from the two edges, thus : — 

The City Hall of Burlington 

No punctuation is needed after the title. 

Leave a line blank, and begin the composition on the second line 
from the title. 

Leave an even blank space at the left hand on each line. This is 
called the margin. Perhaps your paper is already ruled for a margin. 
If not, an inch and a half is a good width for the margin. 

Begin the first line half an inch farther to the right than the others. 
Setting the line in in this way is called indenting. 

Leave a space between sentences twice as great as that between words 
within the sentence. 

If at the end of a line you have a word too long for the space that is 
left, divide the word at the end of a syllable by a hyphen, and write the 
rest of it on the next line. But never divide a word thus except between 
syllables. See Section 34. 

14. The spelling of English words, difficult and unreason- 
able as much of it is, has been established by usage, and 
must be learned before you can write. The following 
words are often misspelled : — 

Accidentally, agreeable, all right, beginning, believe, benefited, com- 
ing, committee, conspicuous, describe, despair, dilapidated, disappointed, 
dispel, dispelled, existence, exaggerate, forcible, formerly, grammar, 
grandeur, incidentally, led, lose, modelled, movable, noticeable, occasion, 
occur, occurred, parallel, perceive, perseverance, persuade, precede, 
principal, principle, privilege, proceed, professor, pursue, recommend, 
relief, rhythm, separate, supersede, tremendous, until, village, villain, 
writing, written. 

15. A good way to correct your spelling is to keep a 



Composition 167 

little note-book and write in it, correctly spelled, every 
word that you misspell in your written work. Read over 
the whole list every time you add a word to it. 

EXERCISE 12 

Write out from dictation the list of words given above. If you mis- 
spell any word, write it out correctly five times a day for five days. 

16. So far we have considered only declarative sen- 
tences, sentences that tell something. Such sentences, as 
we have seen, begin with a capital letter and close with a 
period. When we ask questions we use a different kind of 
sentence, called interrogative. Every interrogative sentence 
must begin with a capital letter and close with a question 

mark (?). 

EXERCISE 13 

How many interrogative sentences are there in Exercises 1 and 2 ? 

Write out five questions about the World's Fair at St. Louis, and the 
answers. 

Write three questions that you have asked or have heard asked since 
yesterday, and the answers that were given. 

17. Even a single word, if by itself it asks a question or 
answers one, is a sentence, and must be written with a 
capital letter at the beginning and a question mark (or 
a period, as the case may be) at the close. Thus : — 

" When did he say he was coming ? " 

" To-morrow. 1 ' 

" Will he be here in time to see the parade ? " 

" He will if the train is on time." 

" I'm going to New York myself." 

" When ? " 

" Next Monday.' 

18. Sometimes a question is asked in what, except for 
the pitch of the voice, might be a declarative sentence; 
thus : — « You won't forget it ? " 



1 68 English Grammar 

Any such sentence that really asks a question must be 
followed by a question mark. 

EXERCISE 14 
Copy the following conversations, inserting a question 
mark after each interrogative sentence and a period after 
each declarative sentence, and beginning each sentence 
with a capital letter : — 

" Are you going with us all the way to Florence " I asked 

"no, signor, to Bologna; from there to Ancona" 

" have you ever been to Venice we are just coming from there " 

" oh yes " 

" it is a beautiful place do you like it "• 

" sufficiently but one does not enjoy oneself very much there " 

" you are going to Chicago to-morrow, then " 

" unless I get a telegram to-night countermanding the order " 

" and you will be gone over Sunday, I suppose " 

" no, I think I can get back Saturday night " 

19. Suppose you want to tell a stranger what is made 
in some shop or factory in your town. You know well 
enough, perhaps ; at least you believe you do. But very 
likely the stranger asks some questions that you are puzzled 
to answer, or does not readily understand your answers, or 
wants fuller answers than you give him. This may be 
because you really do not know much about the business ; 
or it may be because you do not know the names of things 
and processes with which you are really familiar. By ask- 
ing your teacher, or your schoolmates, or your parents, or 
some one that works at the factory, you can probably learn 
enough about the work there and the names of things to 
give an account that even a stranger would understand. 

Or it may be that you are asked to give an account of 
some crop that grows in your neighborhood. The same 
method of asking questions — first of* yourself, to see just 



Composition 169 

how much you already know about it, then of others, to get 
further knowledge and the names of things — will enable 
you to give a better account of the matter. 

EXERCISE 15 

Study by this method of questions the work done in some shop or 
factory in your neighborhood. Follow up your questions till you know 
thoroughly (1) what is made there, (2) how it is made, and (3) what 
it is used for. 

Give the results of your study in an oral composition before the class. 

Write out your composition in the manner described in Exercise 11. 

20. An important point in English spelling is the cor- 
rect use of the apostrophe ('). It is used (i)to mark the 
possessive case of nouns, (2) to mark the omission of part 
of a word, and (3) in writing the plural of letters and fig- 
ures and sometimes of proper names. 

(1) In writing the possessive case of nouns put an 
apostrophe before the added s, or at the end of the word 
if no s is added (Grammar, Section 51) : — 

a man's coat, the men's tools, my friend's book, his brothers' rights, 
Archimedes' screw. 

But no apostrophe is used in the possessive case of per- 
sonal pronouns : — 

yours, hers, its, theirs. 

(2) In writing the contracted forms of familiar talk or of 
poetry, the apostrophe is used to mark the letter or letters 
omitted : — 

it's for it is, isn't for is not, shan't for shall not, 'most for almost ; and 
so I'm, I'd, I'll, I've, we'll, we'd, he's, hasn't, doesn't, haven't, don't, 
didn't, won't, 'em, 'tis, o'er, e'er, o'clock. 

Note. — The correct contraction of does not is doesn't. Dotft is 
the contraction of do not. 



170 English Grammar 

Ain't is not the proper contraction of anything. Say Pm not, you 
aren't or you're not, he isn't or he's not, they are^nt or they're not. 

Most without the apostrophe is the superlative of more. 

''Most for almost is an inelegant abbreviation and had better be 
avoided. 

The words though, through, are by some scholars spelled tho, thru. 
These are not abbreviations or contractions, but revised spellings, and 
should not be written with an apostrophe. 

As a general thing, these contractions should not be used in your 
written work. They are to be used only when it is desired to make the 
writing very informal, like familiar talk, most often in writing out con- 
versation. Some of them, like o^er, e^er, belong only to poetry. 

(3) The plural of letters and figures is written 's (Gram- 
mar 44, I, 2, note) : — 

There are four s's in the word possess. 
You overlooked one of the 5 1 s in the third column. 
Note. — The plural of proper nouns ending in y is often written V, 
to avoid a change of spelling in the ending : — 

There are two William Kelly's. Which one do you want ? 

EXERCISE 16 

Copy the following sentences, using apostrophes in the 
proper places : — 

The boys curly hair showed through the holes in his old straw hat. 

Mary declared that the pin was hers, not Ruths. 

From here to my uncles house is a good two hours walk. 

The snail carries its house on its back. 

The ladys face was hidden by a thick veil. 

Mrs. Joness bag is in the ladies waiting room. 

The honor of this days work is yours. 

King Lear was crazed by his daughters ingratitude. 

He knew by the tone of the mens voices that all hope was gone. 

The responsibility is not theirs, but ours. 

This we ask for Jesus sake. 

Websters and Worcesters were the first great American dictionaries. 

The teachers meeting will be held next week. 



Composition 171 

You can buy fish-hooks at Matthews and Burtons hardware store. 1 
I saw some in the window at Curtiss, too. 
Is there any likelihood of Elwoods succeeding in his attempt? 
I shouldnt wonder if he didnt come at all. 
Isnt it strange that he doesnt answer? 
Its strange he hasnt answered. 
Almost is sometimes contracted in talk to most. 
I shant be ready before two oclock, Im afraid. 

Eer, an old-fashioned and poetical contraction of ever, is carefully to 
be distinguished from ere, meaning before. 

EXERCISE 17 

Study in the way indicated in Exercise 15 some crop or 
other natural product with which you are familiar. Give 
the result in an oral composition, then in writing. 

21. Besides declarative and interrogative sentences, 
there are imperative sentences, which we use when we 
tell a person to do something, or to refrain from doing 
something. Imperative sentences must be written with a 
capital letter at the beginning, and a period, or, if the 
order is eagerly or excitedly given, an exclamation mark 
(!), at the end: — 

Come over to my house this afternoon. 
Remember the poor. 

Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day. 
Don't say a word ! 
Ring out the false, ring in the true ! 
" Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, 
But spare your country's flag ! " she said. 

Do not use the exclamation mark after imperative 
sentences unless the order is excitedly given. 

22. Generally it is more polite or respectful to ask a 
person if he will do a thing for us than it is to tell him 

1 See Grammar, Section 51. 



172 English Grammar 

to do it. So requests are very commonly put in the form 
of questions. For example : — 

Will you be good enough to mail this letter for me as you go past 
the post-office ? 

Won't you come over to my house this afternoon ? 

These are questions, and must be followed by the ques- 
tion mark. On the other hand, the word please may be 
used for politeness' sake in imperative sentences : — 

Open the window, please. 

So we may say simply : — 

Open the window. (Imperative.} 
or 

Open the window, please. (Imperative.) 
or 

Will you open the window, please ? (Interrogative.) 

Observe that the first two sentences close with a period, 
the third with a question mark. 

EXERCISE 18 

How many imperative sentences are there in the first two Exercises ? 
Do any of them close with an exclamation mark ? Why ? 

Find in your reading three imperative sentences that close with a 
period; two that close with an exclamation mark. 

Find in your reading two requests in the form of questions. 

Write out two orders or requests that you have given people to-day, 
writing just the words you used. 

Write out directions for a stranger who wants to find his way from 
the railway station to the school. How many imperative sentences 
have you used ? How are they punctuated ? 



CHAPTER II 

LETTERS 

23. Composition is putting ideas together in words so 
that other people will understand them. Sometimes the 
other people are your schoolmates or your friends at home ; 
sometimes they are people at a distance to whom you can- 
not talk. In the latter case the composition takes the form 
of a letter. 

24. In writing a letter you have to think out what you 
want to say, just as in any other kind of composition. 
You have also to know and follow certain established forms 
in opening and closing the letter, and in addressing the 
envelope. These fixed parts of the letter are the date 
(that is, the place and time of writing), the address (that 
is the name and the residence or place of business of the 
person to whom the letter is sent), the salutation or greeting, 
the close, and the envelope address or superscription. The 
forms are somewhat different for the three different kinds 
of letters: (i) business letters, (2) familiar letters, and 
(3) invitations. 

BUSINESS LETTERS 

I. The date consists of the place from which you write, 
and the month, the day of the month, and the year of 
writing. The proper place for the date is the upper right- 
hand corner of the sheet, an inch or more from the top. 
The date should generally be on one line, and should always 
be in the order mentioned — place, month, day, year. If, 
however, it is so long that it would run more than halfway 
across the page, it may be written on two lines, or even on 

173 



174 English Grammar 

three. The time, in any case, should be always on one 
line. See the examples given below. 

In business correspondence the name and address of the 
sender, often his occupation too, are printed at the top of 
the sheet, and a blank left for the date. These printed 
forms are called letter-heads. 

II. The address consists of the name and the place of 
business or residence of the person to whom the letter is 
sent. The name should be written on one line, lower than 
the date and beginning at the margin, and the place on 
the next line, or the next two lines. If you wish to give the 
official title as well as the name, write it immediately under 
the name (see example (2) below). 

III. The greeting is the form of words by which, as it 
were, you present yourself to the reader of the letter. 
Proper forms of greeting for business letters are Sir, 
Madam, Dear Sir, My dear Sir, Dear Madam, Gentlemen. 
The first two are rather stiff and distant. The greeting 
comes below the address and farther to the right, and is 
followed by the letter proper, which begins on the next line. 

IV. After the letter proper is written, it is closed with 
some assurance of respect or of faithfulness — Respectfully, 
Respectfully yours, Very truly yours, — on a separate line, 
and below that the signature. 

If you are writing to a stranger, and your name does not 
tell what would be the proper title to prefix to your name 
in an answer to your letter, that title should be prefixed to 
your signature in marks of parenthesis, thus : (Dr.) R. H. 
Thomas, (Miss) Alicia Albright. A married woman signs 
her own name, but gives the name with her husband's 
initials in parenthesis below : Margaret Roberts (Mrs. 
Charles F. Roberts). But if Mrs. Roberts is a widow, she 
signs herself (Mrs.) Margaret Roberts. These formali- 



Letters 



75 



ties are of course unnecessary when your correspondent 
knows who and what you are. 

V. The envelope address or superscription is the same as 
the address within the letter, except that it is sometimes 
written on more lines. The lines may be successively in- 
dented, i.e. each a little farther to the right than the one 
above, or they may all be written with the same margin. 
See the examples below. 

The place for the stamp is the upper right-hand corner 
of the envelope. In the upper left-hand corner should be 
written (if it is not already printed there) the name and 
post-office address of the sender. By this means the letter 
may be returned unopened to the sender if the person to 
whom it is sent cannot be found. 

EXAMPLES OF BUSINESS LETTER FORMS 
(0 

&oLwyv{>icu, Mo-., c/to-v-. 80, /<?05. 

120 BoytoZo-Ti cftv&&C, JdooZcyyi, TTIoa^. 

tfudt . 



1}lMf tAAtlj 0fOWb&, 



176 English Grammar 









(2) 

bteuv ofW: 

J cum i/ybfcn/yntd fyu t{b& fSvLclat £t&a@A& / bo/ 
it/vim Ubd/b 






Letters 



177 



' 




/?. €. &ia,ifc, 




^vvyif^l&td, JIL 




tfwfit. & #. CCiMwu 


W-cbyyb&M}(lL& 


& f bka/n&(M; 



(3) 
TTiv. /?. S. @IoaJo, 

effoivyu^C&ld, Jtt. 

J 71 tbt/fesly to yawv L&t/t&'u of 



it /3, /qos. 



1 fOtfo, 



V&vy tA/uLif ifowv&, 

&. 3. (ZvtJvwb. 



178 English Grammar 

25. Observe the punctuation in these letter forms. Be- 
tween each two items of the date is a comma, and at the 
end a period ; between each two items of the address a 
comma, and at the end a period ; after the greeting a 
colon. A comma is sometimes used instead of a colon 
after the greeting. When the body of the letter begins on 
the same line with the greeting the colon or comma is 
followed by a dash ( — ). On the envelope it is customary 
to omit punctuation (except the period after abbreviations) 
at the ends of lines, but not the commas within the line. 

26. Note also the use of capital letters in the greeting 
and in the closing phrase before the signature. In the 
greeting the first word and the noun are capitalized : Dear 
Sir, My dear Sir, but not My Dear Sir. The closing 
phrase begins with a capital letter, even though it is only 
part of a sentence ; thus : 



i/yuq Uveut tAb aooda, wilt jUA/yoz 
item will 'Sbaa'yu fcovcyu 11& w-tfctu fwotAvu 



Letters 179 

EXERCISE 19 1 
Write out complete letter forms for 

A letter to the manager of the business studied in Exercise 15. 

A letter to the publisher of some one of your text-books. 

A letter to the editor of some newspaper or magazine that you read. 

A letter to some storekeeper or business firm in your town. 

A letter from Alice, wife of Charles F. Winslow, who lives at Browns 
Station, Fairfield County, Connecticut, to Alfred Little, who is a physi- 
cian with an office at 21 Oxbridge Road, London, England. 

27. Observe that in the letter forms given on pp. 175-177 
Mr., 111., Nov., and other abbreviations are followed by 
periods. It is a rule in English writing that a period must 
be used after an abbreviation. Thus, we write Prof. Charles 
E. Norton, Gen. U. S. Grant ; and so Hon., Mr., Mrs., 
Mo., Mass., Co., etc., i.e., and many more. 

Remember that these abbreviations are only in the 
writing, not in the pronunciation. When a word is 
shortened in slang or in colloquial speech, as exam for 
examination, auto for automobile, the abbreviation is not 
in the writing and should not be represented by a period. 

Yet initials of the names of persons, corporations, and 
the like are followed by periods, though we pronounce only 
the letter written. Thus we write, and say, Mr. H. B. 
Thompson ; we say, and often write, the Y. M. C. A., the 
W. C. T. U., the M. K. & T. Railway. 

28. Abbreviations of titles and of proper names are 
begun with capital letters. So are some others that would 
not be spelled with capitals if they were written out : No., 
MS. (for manuscript) v Yet many abbreviations are more 
often written without capitals : e.g., i.e., viz. (for videlicet, 

1 Pupils should be provided with suitable stationery for this exercise. 



180 English Grammar 

which means namely), and many others. In some, usage 
varies, with a tendency towards using the small letter; 
so we may write Vol. or vol., PP. or pp. But of course 
there is no choice in the abbreviations of titles and 
proper names; these must always begin with a capital 
letter. 

29. Abbreviations are used more often in business and 
in technical writing than in other kinds of composition. 
Yet even in business correspondence it is a good rule not 
to use abbreviations unless you are sure that they are well 
established and cannot be misunderstood. 

30. Mistakes are sometimes made in using the abbrevi- 
ations of titles. This is the rule to follow : — 

(i) Before proper names use the abbreviations: Prof. 
R. F. Johnson, Dr. Thomas, Rev. Abner Jones, Col. T. W. 
Higginson, Gen. Robt. E. Lee. 

Note. — When the title is used with the surname only, it is better 
written out: Colonel Higginson, General Lee, Captain Lyon, Senator 
Cockrell. The title of the chief magistrate of the United States is 
always written out: President Roosevelt. But do not write out Mr., 
Mrs., Dr. 

(2) In giving the names of clergymen, use the title Rev. 
before Christian name and surname, but Rev. Mr. (or Rev. 
Dr. in case of a D.D.) before the simple surname; write 
Rev. Abner Jones or Rev. Mr. Jones, never Rev. Jones. 

(3) When the title is used alone, spell it out : — 

" Good morning, professor." 
" When did this happen, captain ? " 
" Can you stop at our house this evening, 'doctor ? " 
The general was accompanied by two members of his staff, Colonel 
Longworthy and Major Ashburn. 



Letters 1 8 1 

31. The body of the business letter should be always 
polite, but beyond that should be as brief as is consistent 
with accuracy and clearness. For example : — 

Columbia, Mo., April 3, 1905. 
Messrs. D. C. Heath & Co., 

120 Boylston St., Boston, Mass. 

Gentlemen : 

Please send me by the American Express Co., prepaid, two copies of 
Payne's English in American Universities, and one each of Moulton's 
Literary Study of the Bible and Cook's The Bible and English Prose 
Style. 

The numbers of the " English Classics " ordered on March 20 
arrived promptly and are very satisfactory. Please send the bill for 
both that order and the present, and it will receive immediate attention. 

Very truly yours, 

Earle C. Rogers. 

Norwalk, III., August 25, 1905. 
Supt. C. T. Arthur, 

Waynesville, Arkansas. 

Dear Sir : 

The removal of my family from Waynesville early last May prevented 
me from finishing the work of the school year, or rather from taking 
the final examinations. I was in regular attendance and did all the 
work of the eighth grade until the week before examination. I now 
wish to enter the high school here this fall ; and to do so I shall have 
to present credentials from the school I last attended, showing that I 
am ready to take up high school work. I believe I can do it very well 
if only I can get admitted. Would you be good enough to send to the 
principal here (Mr. W. J. Barnwell) a statement of the work done in 
the eighth grade at Waynesville, and of my standing in the class up to 
May 10 ? I was in Miss Higgins's room in the Davis School. A 
signed statement from you of the work done and of my standing in it 
will, I think, be sufficient to secure my admission, and will greatly 

obli S e > Yours respectfully, 

Robert McGregor. 



1 82 English Grammar 

Note. — In such letters as this, requesting your correspondent to 
write to you or in your interest, rather than in his own, a stamp 
should be enclosed. This is not necessary in ordinary mercantile 
correspondence. 

EXERCISE 20 

You have seen something advertised in the newspapers or magazines 
that you would especially like to have. Write to the advertiser, telling 
him exactly what you want and how you want it sent. 

32. In writing numbers the question often arises whether 
to use the Arabic figures or spell the numbers out. In 
your arithmetic the Arabic figures are used ; in the news- 
papers and works of general literature they are rarely used, 
the numbers being spelled out like any other word. The 
general rule is this : — 

If the numbers are small and simple, and do not occur 
very frequently, spell them out; but if the numbers are 
long and detailed, or if your topic is one in which numbers 
must be written very often, use figures. 

For example : — 

Four of those marbles are mine ; the other three belong to George. 

In this battle the general had fifteen thousand men, of whom not 
more than two-thirds were disciplined troops. 

I had to pay three dollars and a half for the racket, and the balls cost 
thirty cents apiece, so that there was not much left of my five 
dollars. 

The loss on the Russian side is officially given out as 23,572. Of 
these 349 were lost in the sinking of the cruiser, and 12,622 in the 
assault on the morning of the 12th. 

The net earnings of the company, it appears, amounted to $8384.83. 
If from this we deduct the interest on the bonded debt of $20,000, 
which at five per cent comes to $1000, and the $2500 required annually 
for the interest on the preferred stock, there remains only $4884.83 
from which to declare a dividend on the $50,000 of common stock. 



Letters 1 83 

33. The following special rules must be observed : — 

(1) In dating letters, follow the forms given on pp. 176 
and 177. Except in invitations and formal notes, do not 
spell out the date. 

(2) In other writing, never spell out the year. The day 
and the month, however, unless many dates are to be given, 
are often spelled out, with the day first ; thus : — 

On the twelfth of November, 181 7, he arrived at the mouth of the river. 

It is, however, equally correct to write : — 

He reached the mouth of the river Nov. 12, 1817. 

In the first form the name of the month should never be 
abbreviated ; but the day of the month is sometimes put 
in figures, with letters following to show that it is an 
ordinal : — 

On the 12th of November. 

The 22d of February is Washington's birthday. 

The full spelling is better, except in acknowledging letters 
in business correspondence. 

(3) In writing addresses (p. 176) the street number is 
given in figures : — 

513 North Avenue ; 

but the number that names the street, unless it is very 
long, is written out : — 

320 West Fourteenth Street. 
374 Fifth Avenue. 

If the number is so long that there is not room to write it 
out on the line, it is given in figures : — 

53 East 175th Street. 



184 English Grammar 

(4) Ordinals forming part of the names of reigning 
princes are written in Roman numerals, thus : — 

Henry VIII was the father of three sovereigns of England, — Edward VI, 
Mary, and Elizabeth. 

Observe that these numerals, not being abbreviations, are 
not followed by periods. 

EXERCISE 21 

Write a notice, to be printed in the newspapers, calling a meeting of 
the stockholders of some corporation of which you know the name, at 
a certain date ; then write a letter to the manager of the paper, enclos- 
ing the notice and telling him when, where, and how often you want the 
notice printed. 

EXERCISE 22 

Write answers to the two letters given on p. 181. 

34. When there is not room enough at the end of a line 
for the word you wish to write there, you may, if the word 
has more than one syllable, divide it by a hyphen (-) and 
write the latter part on the next line, as in the ninth line 
of this page. 

In using the hyphen observe the following rules : — 

(1) Divide a word only between syllables. For the 
proper syllabic division of a word consult the dictionary. 

(2) Never divide a word that has not at least two pro- 
nounced syllables. Such words as stopped, drowned, 
attacked, knives, brogue have not two syllables and must 
not be divided at the end of the line. 

(3) Avoid a division that leaves only a single letter on 
the first line, even though that letter is a true syllable. 

(4) Write the hyphen only at the end of the line, never 
at the beginning ; and write it plainly. 



Letters 185 

35. The hyphen is also used between the parts of com- 
pound words ; as in year-book, master-workman, brick-kiln. 
This use of the hyphen is less frequent than it was formerly, 
and whether it should be used or not is, in the case of a 
great many words, an unsettled question. There is at 
present a general tendency to avoid its use, either by 
writing the word solid, as in farmhouse, landslide, rear- 
guard, or by writing the two parts separately, as apple 
tree, savings bank, home rule. 

Good usage, however, agrees in writing to-day, to-morrow, 
and numbers made up of tens and units, as seventy-nine, 
twenty-second, with a hyphen ; and it forbids the hyphen 
(except of course at the end of the line) in railroad, to- 
gether, inasmuch, somebody, something, somewhat, what- 
ever, anything, awhile, pronouns ending in self, and many 
others. 

Note. — The pronouns ending in self are always written solid, with 
the exception of oneself, which may also be written one's self 

EXERCISE 23 

Find in your reading and copy ten compound words written solid, 
five that you believe to be compound words written separately, and five 
written with a hyphen. 

EXERCISE 24 

Write to the manager of the business that you were studying in 
Exercise 15, asking him for information on some point about which 
you were in doubt. 

Write to the director of the State Agricultural Experiment Station, 
or to the editor of some agricultural or trade journal that you know of, 
asking questions about the industry studied in Exercise 17 that you did 
not then get satisfactorily answered. 



1 86 English Grammar 

FAMILIAR LETTERS 

36. Familiar letters differ somewhat from business let- 
ters in their forms, as well as in their style and contents. 
The date and the superscription are the same in both, but 
the address is differently placed, and the greeting and the 
close show a more personal relation between the writer 
and the receiver of the letter. 

37. In familiar letters it is customary to begin with 
the greeting immediately after the date and to write 
the address at the end, below the signature and beginning 
at the margin. 

Note. — This applies especially to letters to relatives and to friends 
whom you call by their first names. If you greet your correspondent 
by title as well as by name, e.g. My dear Mr. Todd, it is not improper 
to write the address before the greeting as in business letters. See 
examples below. 

38. The forms of greeting for familiar letters are more 
varied than for business letters, depending on the relation 
between the writer and his correspondent. The following 
will serve as illustrations : — 

Dear Jim : My dear Ethel : My dear Boy : Dear Mother : Dear Uncle 
Harry : My dear Mr. Hampden : Dear Mrs. Brown : My dear Miss 
Norton : Dear Miss Annie. 

39. The close is even less formal than the greeting. In 
general, it corresponds in spirit with the greeting. In 
writing to relatives, for instance, we seldom sign our 
names in full, and sometimes use no proper name at all. 
The receiver of the letter will know who wrote it, and it is 
nobody else's business to know. But the envelope should 
bear the sender's address in the upper left-hand corner, 
just as on a business letter, and for the same reason. 



Letters 187 

EXAMPLES OF FAMILIAR LETTERS 

The Inside Inn, 
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 
St. Louis, Mo., August 10, 1904. 
Dearest Polly : 

We are here at last — safely lodged within the World's Fair grounds 
and making ready to sally forth and " do the whole thing " to-morrow. 
You know we have only a day and a half to stay, for father has to be 
in Denver Saturday morning. I don't suppose we shall be able to see 
even the outside of things in that time. We came from the Lindell 
entrance to the hotel by the Intramural Railway, which, according to 
the map, took us more than halfway around the grounds ; and my 
main impression, so far, is of the great size of the place. It is even 
bigger than its official name, which, as you see, takes a line by itself in 
my letter-head. But I'm not going to try to tell you anything about it 
to-night. Father is downstairs talking with an old friend he met on 
the train, who was coming like ourselves to see the Fair; mother is 
lying down to get a little rest in preparation for to-morrow ; and I had 
better do the same. You shall have a full account of our experiences 
when I get home to Denver. Your loying cousin? 

Bessie. 
Miss Mary Wainwright, 
29 Water Street, 

Port Huron, Michigan. 

Rev. H. W. Mills, 

Riverside, New Jersey. 

Dear Mr. Mills : 

Since you returned home I have had an opportunity to examine the 
library left by Rev. Mr. Slocum when he died, which you had some 
thought of purchasing. I find that it contains about fifteen hundred 
volumes, mostly missionary records and reports, as was to be expected 
from Mr. Slocum's long work in that field, but very little that throws any 
light on early New England missions, and nothing of any importance 
on the missions to the Indians. The set of Jonathan Edwards's works 
that he was supposed to have cannot be found. Perhaps he sold them, 
as he had little sympathy with Edwards's theology ; perhaps he never 



Wilton, Conn., July 15, 1905. 



1 88 English Grammar 

had them. At any rate they are not in the library now. I am going 
to Boston next week, and shall perhaps be able to pick up a copy there 
at a reasonable figure. Which volume is it that you particularly want ? 
And how much would you be willing to pay for it ? I can at least look 
up any references that you would like to have verified. Let me know 
if I can be of service to you, and believe me, 

Faithfully yours, 

James Trumbull. 

EXERCISE 25 

Write a letter to your cousin or to some friend who has moved away 
from town, describing your work in English composition this year. 



EXERCISE 26 

Write to another friend, telling what you did the last time you had 
a holiday. 

Shall and Will 

40. Study the table of the uses of shall and will in the 
Grammar, p. 139. Observe that to express the deter- 
mination of the actor, will is used in all three persons ; to 
express the determination of the speaker, will is used in 
the first person and shall in the second and third persons. 
Note also that in asking questions, will or shall should be 
used according as will or shall is expected in the answer ; 
and that should and would follow the same rules as shall 
and will. 

41. The mistakes most often made in the use of these 
words are to use will for shall, and to use would for 
should. For example, "I'm afraid I will be late" should 
be " I'm afraid I shall be late " ; " He says we won't reach 
Springfield till ten o'clock " should be " He says we shan't 
reach Springfield till ten o'clock " ; " Will you be at your 
office to-morrow at three?" is right if you expect in 



Letters 189 

answer a promise, " I will be there at three," but not if 
you expect a mere statement of futurity, " I shall be there 
at three; that is my regular office hour." In the latter 
case the question should be, " Shall you be at your office 
at three ? " The following sentences show the correct uses 
in constructions in which mistakes are most often made : — 

We shall not look upon his like again. 

We hoped we should find him at home. 

I shall expect you. 

His decision was that I should return and get the ticket, and that John 

should take care of the dogs in the meantime. 
He declared that he would not, and that his son should not, enter 

that house again. 
Tom feared that he should be too late, that the bear would be gone 

before he could get back. 
We shall know more about it to-morrow. 1 

EXERCISE 27 

Find in your reading, and copy, sentences containing shall and 
should — at least one sentence for each tense in each grammatical 
person. 

FORMAL INVITATIONS 

42. In formal invitations the third person is used 
throughout, the date (merely the name of the house or 
the street and number, and the month and day, spelled 
out) is written at the end, and the address, greeting, and 
signature are omitted. The envelope, being delivered by 
messenger and not through the mails, bears merely the 
name of the person to whom it is sent. All numbers ex- 
cept the street number in the date are spelled out. For 
example : — 

1 For fuller explanation of the uses of shall and will, with copious exer- 
cises, see A. S. Hill's Foundations of Rhetoric and Buehler's Practical Exer- 
cises in English. 



190 English Grammar 

Mrs. Fairchild requests the pleasure of Mr. Jan- 
vier's company at dinner on Thursday, May the 
sixteenth, at half-past six o'clock. 
Red Oaks, 
May twelfth. 

Mr. Janvier accepts with pleasure Mrs. Fairchild's 
kind invitation to dinner on Thursday next at half- 
past six o'clock. 
25 Van Alan Street, 
May thirteenth. 

43. A less formal invitation may be given in a note, which 
is more in the fashion of a familiar letter. For example : — 

My dear Mr. Janvier : 

I am asking a few friends to take luncheon with me next Tuesday at 
one o'clock, to meet my cousin, Miss Appleton, and hope that you will 
be one of the number. Cordially yours> 

Red Oaks. Alicia T. Fairchild. 

June fourteenth. 

My dear Mrs. Fairchild: 

I shall be delighted to take luncheon with you next Tuesday and meet 
Miss Appleton. Very sincerely yours? 

25 Van Alan Street, Robert Janvier. 

June fourteenth. 

44. A form of invitation commonly used for receptions 
and evening parties is nothing more than the visiting card 
of the hostess with the date and nature of the entertain- 
ment and the name of the person or persons, if there are 
such, in whose honor it is given ; thus : — 

Mrs. Arthur Fairchild 

At Home 

Wednesday, October twelfth 

from eight to eleven 
Miss Bartram Music 



Letters 191 

The degree of formality to be employed will depend 
upon circumstances — the occasion, and your acquaintance 
with the person to be invited. In answering, follow the 
form of the invitation. The only answer required to the 
"at home" card is your own visiting card, to be. sent on 
the day of the " at home " in case you do not accept the 
invitation. 

EXERCISE 28 

Write a formal invitation in your mother's name, asking Mr. R. L. 
Boardman to dinner some day next week. Write his answer to the 
invitation. 

Write a formal invitation in the name of the class, asking some physi- 
cian in the town to attend the closing exercises of the school year. 

Write a note, inviting your teacher to a party at your house. 

Write an answer to your friend's mother, who has asked you to a 
party in celebration of your friend's birthday. 

Write a note, asking one of your schoolmates to spend the day with 
you. 

45. Besides declarative, interrogative, and imperative 
sentences, we use occasionally a fourth kind of sentence, 
which neither asserts, nor asks, nor commands, but ex- 
claims, and is therefore called an exclamatory sentence 
(Grammar, Section 2). For example : — 

What fun we had ! 

How often I have watched him cross the street and come running up 
the walk ! 

The exclamatory sentence must always be followed by 
an exclamation mark (!). 

46. Other sentences also, as we have seen, are sometimes 
followed by an exclamation mark. Not only imperative 
sentences (see Section 21), but also declarative sentences 
are written with an exclamation mark instead of a period 



IQ2 



English Grammar 



when we wish to denote that the assertion is excitedly 
made. Thus : — 

The barn is on fire ! 

No boat can live in such a sea as that ! 

47. The exclamation mark is sometimes used within 
the sentence after interjections and short exclamatory 
phrases : — 

Halloo ! what is it ? 

O shame ! where is thy blush ? 

And look ! here is a guest for Endicott, coming forth out of the forest. 

In most cases, however, it is better to begin with a 
capital letter after the exclamation mark, or, if what fol- 
lows is not a new sentence, to use the comma instead and 
put the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence : — . 

Look you, how fierce he glares ! Hurry, Tom, hurry ! 

48. A style that employs many exclamatory sentences 
is not one to be cultivated by young writers. It is more 
profitable to see and learn and think than it is to exclaim. 

EXERCISE 29 

Write out three exclamatory sentences that you have heard or have 
spoken yourself since yesterday. 

Find in your reading and copy out three exclamatory sentences, and 
three declarative sentences closed with the exclamation mark. 

Find in your reading two instances of an exclamation mark used 
within the sentence, — that is, followed by a small letter. 

RULES FOR PUNCTUATION AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE 

I. Use the period at the end of declarative and impera- 
tive sentences, unless you wish to indicate a feeling of 
excitement. 



Letters 



193 



2. Use the question mark at the end of every interroga- 
tive sentence. 

3. Use the exclamation mark at the end of every ex- 
clamatory sentence, and after other sentences or parts of 
sentences when you wish to indicate a feeling of strong 
excitement. 

EXERCISE 30 

Copy the following selection, using capital letters where 
you think sentences begin, inserting apostrophes where 
necessary, and putting the proper punctuation at the end 
of each sentence : — 

at this critical moment a fresh comely woman passed through the 
throng to get a peep at the gray-bearded man she had a chubby child in 
her arms, which, frightened at his looks, began to cry " hush, Rip," cried 
she, " hush, you little fool the old man wont hurt you " the name of the 
child, the air of the mother, the tone of her voice, all awakened a train 
of recollection in his mind 

" what is your name, my good woman " asked he 

"Judith Gardenier" 

"and your fathers name'" 

" ah, poor man, his name was Rip Van Winkle ; its twenty years since 
he went away from home with his gun, and never has been heard from 
since — his dog came home without him ; but whether he shot himself, 
or was carried away by the Indians, nobody can tell I was then but a 
little girl" 

Rip had but one question more to ask ; but he put it with a falter- 
ing voice : — 

"wheres your mother" 

oh, she too had died but a short time since : she broke a blood vessel 
in a fit of passion at a New England peddler 

the honest man could contain himself no longer he caught his daughter 
and her child in his arms " I am your father " cried he ; " young Rip 
Van Winkle once — old Rip Van Winkle now does nobody know poor 
Rip Van Winkle " 

all stood amazed, until an old woman, tottering out from among the 
crowd, put her hand to her brow, and peering under it in his face for a 



194 English Grammar 

moment, exclaimed : " sure enough it is Rip Van Winkle — it is himself 
welcome home again, old neighbor why, where have you been these 
twenty long years " 

49. In the last Exercise, observe that the speeches of 
Rip, of Judith, and of the old woman are set off by quota- 
tion marks (" "). But observe also that Judith's answer 
to Rip's third question, which is not given in just the words 
she used, is not so marked. 

The rules for quotation are as follows : — 

(i) Whenever we quote, that is, use the exact words of, 
some one else, we put the quotation mark (") before the 
quotation, and again (") at the end of the quotation. 

(2) If we interrupt the quotation with words of our own, 
we must use the quotation mark before the interruption, to 
show that the quotation is suspended, and again after the 
interruption, to show that the quotation is resumed ; thus, 

" My very dog," sighed Rip, " has forgotten me." 

(3) Successive sentences of the same speech not inter- 
rupted must not be separated by quotation marks. Notice 
the speech of the old woman at the end. 

(4) But when the speech quoted consists of several 
paragraphs the marks are repeated at the beginning of 
each new paragraph. A quotation mark at the end of a 
sentence or paragraph means that the speech stops there, 
and must not be used until the speech is finished, or is 
interrupted by some one else. 

(5) When the speech we are quoting contains a quota- 
tion from another speech, this inner quotation is set off by 
single marks (' ') : — 

" Not at all, 1 ' retorted John. " What you said was, ' I will come if I 
possibly can ' ; which is quite a different thing from saying you would 
come if you found it convenient." 



Letters 195 

Note. — This is the standard practice. Many books nowadays, 
however, use the single marks for simple quotations and the double 
marks only for the quotation within a quotation. 

(6) In writing out a conversation, a new paragraph is 
begun with each change of speaker. This way of writing 
indicates the change of speaker to the reader without 
further explanation. Thus Rip's first question is in one 
paragraph, Judith's answer in another, his second question 
in another, Judith's answer in still another ; all of them, 
except the first, without anything to tell who the speakers 
are except the quotation marks and the new paragraphs. 

(7) Quotations that are sentences in themselves, even 
though used as parts of other sentences, are begun with 
capital letters : — 

Their cry was, " Down with the traitors ! " 

(8) But if the quotation is only a word or phrase, not a 
sentence, it may begin with a small letter : — 

He did not say that it "always failed"; the word he used was 
"generally." 

(9) If a quotation is grammatically part of another sen- 
tence and does not begin the sentence, it is preceded : — 

{a) If long, and formally introduced, by a colon : — 

We all recollect the famous verse in our translation : " Then Satan 
answered the Lord and said : ' Doth Job fear God for naught ? ' " 
Franklin makes this : " Does your Majesty imagine that Job's good 
conduct is the effect of mere personal attachment and affection ? " 

(5) If brief and informally introduced, by a comma : — 

When I asked him what he was running for, he said, " I must get to 
the post-office before the mails close." 

(c) If it is merely a word or a phrase, dependent for its 
grammatical construction upon words outside of the quota- 



196 English Grammar 

tion, it may be written with no punctuation before the 
quotation mark, as in the illustration in (8) above. 

(10) If a whole sentence of quotation precedes the 
clause on which it grammatically depends {e.g. said he, he 
replied, asked the captain), it is followed by a comma (not 
a period), or a question mark, or an exclamation mark, as 
the case may be, before the closing quotation mark ; thus: — 

"It looks as if it might rain," said John. 
"Do you think it will rain ? " asked John. 
"What an odd-looking fellow he was ! " thought John. 

(11) When the quoted sentence is interrupted by such 
a clause, the interruption is preceded by a comma, and 
followed by a comma, or, if the quotation without the 
interruption would have been divided at that place by a 
semicolon, then by a semicolon : — 

" I shall begin, 11 he said, "at the second chapter." 

(" I shall begin at the second chapter. 11 ) 

"At the top of the hill, 11 he continued, "where the path turns to the 

left, you will find a spring." 
(" At the top of the hill, where the path turns to the left, you will find a 

spring. 11 ) 
" It's too dark to do anything now," he muttered ; " we shall have to 

wait till morning." 
(" It's too dark to do anything now ; we shall have to wait till morning.") 

(12) Words and phrases are sometimes put in quotation 
marks not because they are quoted from any particular 
person, but merely to show that they are slang or col- 
loquial or provincial or technical expressions, for which 
the writer wishes to disclaim responsibility : — - 

He tried to "work" me, but I "showed him a thing or two." 

There are occasions when this use of quotation marks is 
justifiable ; but as a rule it is to be avoided. Before resort- 



Letters 



197 



ing to it, consider, first, whether you had not better use 
words that you can acknowledge as your own ; secondly, if 
you are sure these are the words you really want, whether 
you might not just as well acknowledge them and write 
them as yours. 

EXERCISE 31 

Rewrite the following selection, observing the rules of 
punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing that you have 
learned : — 

little Daffydowndilly was almost tired to death, when he perceived some 
people reclining lazily in a shady place, by the side of the road the poor 
child entreated his companion that they might sit down there, and take 
some repose old mr Toil will never come here said he for he hates to 
see people taking their ease but, even while he spoke, dafFydowndillys 
eyes fell upon a person who seemed the laziest, and heaviest, and most 
torpid, of all those lazy, and heavy, and torpid people who had lain 
down to sleep in the shade who should it be, again, but the very image 
of mr toil there is a large family of these toils remarked the stranger 
this is another of the old schoolmasters brothers, who was bred in 
italy, where he acquired very idle habits, and goes by the name of 
signor far niente he pretends to lead an easy life, but is really the most 
miserable fellow in the family oh, take me back — take me back cried 
poor little daffydowndilly, bursting into tears if there is nothing but toil 
all the world over, I may just as well go back to the schoolhouse 

WORDS OFTEN MISUSED 

50. The verbs lie, rise, sit, are intransitive; the weak 
verbs derived from them, lay, raise, set, are transitive 
(Grammar, Section 83). The past tense of lie is lay, and 
its past participle is lain ; the past tense of sit is sat, and 
its participle is sat. It is wrong to use lay when you 
mean lie, or laid when you mean lay or lain. A similar 
mistake is often made in the use of sit and sat, less often, 



198 English Grammar 

yet not infrequently, in the use of rise and raise. The 
following sentences show all the forms correctly used : — 

Why don't you lie down ? 

He lay down and went to sleep. 

I must have lain there asleep a long time. 

Lay him gently on the bed. 

They laid him gently on the bed. 

After they had laid him down they covered him carefully. 

Where did you sit ? 

I sat in the third row. 

Had you ever sat there before ? 

He sets too high a price on it. 

He set too high a price on it. 

If he had not set so high a price on it, I should have bought it. 

When you increase the pressure, the water rises. 

The goose rose heavily and napped away out of sight. 

When the dough has risen, knead it thoroughly. 

Raise your head. 

He raised himself on his elbows and peered through the crack. 

They have raised the price two cents a gallon. 

Set in the sense of stiffen, become rigid, is intransitive : — 
Some kinds of cement set much quicker than others. 

Set is also intransitive in the sense of go down, applied 
to the sun and other heavenly bodies : — . 

The moon has set. 

" I was raised in Missouri " is a provincialism. Say 
instead, reared or brought up. Cattle and crops are raised. 

EXERCISE 32 

Find in your reading (or make up yourself) and write out four 
sentences containing lay as the past tense of lie ; four containing lay as 
a transitive verb ; three containing lain ; three containing laid ; two 
containing sit ; three containing sat as the past tense of sit : three con- 
taining set ; four containing raised. 



Letters 



EXERCISE 33 



I 99 



Write out a conversation that you had with your father or your 
mother recently, when you were trying to get permission to go some- 
where or do something. 

51. Titles of books, poems, and other pieces of literature, 

also of pictures and of pieces of statuary, are enclosed in 
quotation marks or written in italics. Practice varies. In 
this book italics are used. Names of vessels and titles of 
periodicals should always be written in italics. Some- 
times it is convenient to use both methods, as in the fol- 
lowing illustrations : — 

The "Tales of the Province House" were included in the second 

edition of Twice-Told Tales. 
" Rip Van Winkle " appeared in the first number of The Sketch-Book. 

Some newspapers and a few printing-houses go so far 
as to print the names of books and periodicals without 
either quotation marks or italics, just as they use single 
instead of double marks for quotations, to avoid cumbering 
the page with marks. But in the case of books the inno- 
vation is not to be recommended, because the marks afford 
a convenient means of distinguishing titles of books from 
the names of characters in the books. One may be very 
fond of David Copperfield without having any great liking 
for David Copperfield. 

EXERCISE 34 

Copy the following passages, putting titles in quotation 
marks or in italics according to the rules given above. 
Indicate italics by underlining : — 

Irving was thirty-six years old, and had been in England four years, 
when he wrote the first number of The Sketch-Book. His earlier works, 



200 English Grammar 

Salmagundi and the History of New York, had given him some local 
reputation in America ; from the appearance of The Sketch-Book dates 
his fame throughout the English-speaking world. 

Poe was only eighteen when he published his first volume, Tamerlane 
and Other Poems. From that time until his death, twenty-two years 
later, he grew steadily in artistic power. His most famous poem, The 
Raven, was written only five years before his death ; it was published 
in the Evening Mirror for January 29, 1845, from advance sheets of 
the Whig Review, to which Poe had sold it. The Bells was written 
only a few months before his death. 

I noticed in yesterday's Evening Post that the captain of the Bri- 
tannic, which came in yesterday morning, reports having picked up 
two survivors of the ill-fated yacht Sylph. 

On the wall hung photographs of some Italian street scenes and 
cathedral interiors, a print of Andrea del Sarto's Saint John, and the 
familiar cherubs from Rafael's Sistine Madonna. 



EXERCISE 35 

Write a letter to a friend of yours, telling what books you have read 
this term, which is the most interesting, and why. 



EXERCISE 36 

Write a composition, telling what newspapers or magazines are taken 
at your home, and describing especially the one that you most like to 
read. 

EXERCISE 37 

Find in the "Wants" column of the newspaper some position to be 
filled for which you would like to make application. Make the appli- 
cation by letter, telling what are your qualifications for the place. 



EXERCISE 38 

Write a letter to some business man in town, recommending a friend 
of yours for a position in his employ. 



Letters 201 



EXERCISE 39 

Write a letter to a friend, proposing an excursion of some sort for 
your next holiday and explaining your plans in regard to it. 

EXERCISE 40 

Write a letter to your grandmother or some other relative living at 
a distance whom you have recently visited. 



CHAPTER III 

PARAGRAPHS 

52. Read the following : — 

I now began to consider that I might yet get a great many things 
out of the ship that would be useful to me, and particularly some of the 
rigging and sails, and such other things as might come to land ; and I 
resolved to make another voyage on board the vessel, if possible. As 
I knew that the first storm that blew must necessarily break her all in 
pieces, I resolved to set all other things aside till I got everything out 
of the ship that I could get. Then I called a council, that is to say, in 
my thoughts, whether I should take back the raft. But this appeared 
impracticable. So I resolved to go as before, when the tide was down ; 
and I did so, only that I stripped before I went from my hut, setting 
out with nothing on but a checkered shirt, a pair of linen trousers, and 
a pair of pumps on my feet. 

I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a second raft. 
Having had experience of the first, I neither made this so unwieldy, nor 
loaded it so hard ; but yet I brought away several things very useful to 
me. First, in the carpenter's stores, I found two or three bags of nails 
and spikes, a great screw-jack, a dozen or two of hatchets, and, above 
all, that most useful thing called a grindstone. All these I secured 
together, with several things belonging to the gunner ; particularly, two 
or three iron crows, two barrels of musket bullets, seven muskets and 
another fowling-piece, with some small quantity of powder more, a large 
bag full of small shot, and a great roll of sheet lead. This last, how- 
ever, was so heavy I could not hoist it up to get it over the ship's side, 
and I had to leave it. Besides these things I took all the men's clothes 
that I could find, and a spare fore-topsail, a hammock, and some bed- 
ding ; and with this I loaded my second raft, and brought it all safe on 
shore, to my very great comfort. 

Having got my second cargo on shore — though I was fain to open 
the barrels of powder and bring them by parcels, for they were too heavy, 



Paragraphs 203 

being large casks — I went to work to make me a little tent, with the 
sail and some poles that I cut for that purpose. Into this tent I brought 
everything that I knew would spoil either with rain or with sun ; and I 
piled all the empty chests and casks up in a circle round the tent, to 
fortify it from any sudden attempt, either from man or beast. 

When I had done this, I blocked up the door of the tent with some 
boards within and an empty chest set up on end without ; and spread- 
ing one of the beds upon the ground and laying my two pistols just at 
my head and my gun at length by me, I went to bed for the first time. 
I slept very quietly all night, for I was very weary and heavy. The 
night before I had slept little, and I had labored hard all day, as well 
to fetch all those things from the ship as to get them on shore. 

— Robinson Crusoe (adapted). 

53. Observe that this is written in four paragraphs, and 
that each paragraph contains a certain part of the story. 
In the first, Crusoe tells why and how he went back to the 
ship a second time ; in the second, what he got on this 
second trip; in the third, how he made and fortified his 
tent ; and in the fourth, how he blocked up the door of his 
tent and went to sleep. There are a number of facts in 
each paragraph ; they might, by an unskilful writer, have 
been told disconnectedly in as many paragraphs as there 
are facts. On the other hand, there is a close connection 
between the different parts of the story, and they might all 
have been run together, by an unskilful writer, into one 
paragraph. But the account is much clearer and easier to 
follow as it is. The writer has conceived the story by cer- 
tain stages or topics, and arranged his separate facts under 
these topics, framing and ordering his sentences in such a 
way that each topic is distinct, yet each paragraph follows 
easily and is readily connected with the preceding to make 
up the whole narrative. 

This is the principle of paragraphing, — that composi- 
tion proceeds by topics, important enough to make distinct 



204 English Grammar 

steps in the thought and not too long or complicated to be 
easily grasped as topics by the reader. Your composition 
may be so single in thought that it makes but one para- 
graph, or it may comprise a number of important topics 
calling for a corresponding number of paragraphs. 

In writing a composition, then, think the matter out into 
paragraphs (one or more) and put together into one para- 
graph all that belongs to one topic. 

54. Do not forget that each paragraph must be in- 
dented at the beginning, and must start on a new line. 
And be careful not to indent unless you are beginning 
a paragraph ; for your reader will take the indention as the 
mark of a new paragraph. 

EXERCISE 41 

In how many paragraphs did you write the compositions in Exer- 
cises 15 and 17 ? What is the topic of each paragraph ? 

Find the topics of three successive paragraphs in your reading lesson 
(exclusive of dialogue paragraphs — see Section 49, 6). 

Write a composition on the subject used in Exercise 25 or 26, first 
thinking the matter out into topics and then writing in corresponding 
paragraphs. 

55. Suppose you are telling about a labor parade or 
some other public procession that you have seen. Ask 
yourself questions, as in Exercise 7, in order to get your 
knowledge fresh in your mind, and then arrange it under 
topics ; for example : — 

The reason for the parade. 

How you happened to see the parade. 

The time and the weather. 

The different companies or divisions. 

The music. 

The scene after the parade had passed. 



Paragraphs 205 

In like manner, if you are telling about a machine which 
you have seen at work, describe : — 

The parts of the machine. 
The machine in motion. 

The number of men required to tend the machine and what each 
one does. 

56. As soon as you put this method of study into prac- 
tice, you will find that it is not the subject itself, but what 
you know about the subject and what you mean to do 
with it, that determines the number of paragraphs in 
which it shall be treated. The outline given above for 
a composition on the parade might be a good paragraph 
outline for what one person wished to tell about one 
parade, but be altogether wrong for what another person 
wished to tell about the same parade, or for what the same 
person had to say about some other parade. In the case 
of the machine your interest might be chiefly in the pur- 
pose for which the machine is intended, which would then 
constitute a new topic — perhaps the only topic in your 
composition ; for what you have to say about the parts of 
the machine, its motions, and the work of operating it, 
may be only so much as is necessary to explain the use 
of the machine and may perhaps all be employed in one 
paragraph on that topic. 

57. It may be, however, that you feel a certain point to 
be of sufficient importance to require a separate paragraph, 
and yet have very little to say about it. This means, 
probably, that you have not sufficiently studied that point. 
Suppose it is the weather on the occasion of the parade. 
You remember well enough that the weather had a great 
deal to do with your enjoyment, or lack of enjoyment, of 
the scene ; but you are at a loss to describe it definitely. 



206 English Grammar 

The thing to do, then, is to pursue your recollections down 
to details. Try the following questions : — 

What time of year was it ? Was it hot or cold ? If it was cold, 
how were the people dressed ? Did they act as if it were cold ? What 
did they do that showed they were cold ? If it was hot, how did the 
people show it ? Was it dusty ? Could you see the dust ? Did it 
bother the people in the parade ? Did it make any difference to the 
crowd that was looking on ? Did it make any difference to you ? 

When you have searched your memory (or your imagi- 
nation) in this way, you will be able to write a longer and 
probably a better paragraph. 

EXERCISE 42 

Think over a picnic that you attended last summer. Search your 
memory till you recall all that was worth remembering — all that made 
the event interesting and worth telling about. Then draw up an out- 
line of the topics that you want to treat. 

Tell the class about the picnic, following in your mind the outline 
that you have drawn up. 

Write a letter, describing the picnic to a friend of yours who is not in 
your school. Write it in as many paragraphs as you have topics that 
are worth treating. 

58. In the matter of paragraphing, as you have found, 
the trouble is likely to be either that your paragraphs are 
too slight and meagre — much shorter than those found in 
books ; or that they are wandering, that they drift on 
from sentence to sentence until they have no recognizable 
topic, but consist of fragments of many topics loosely tacked 
together by some chance association of ideas. The remedy 
in either case is the same : to group your thoughts together 
around one central idea for each paragraph, and then to get 
more information, recall more facts, get a fuller and closer 
knowledge of the things that belong to that idea. The 



Paragraphs 207 

ways of doing this have already been given — recalling 
your own experience, observing anew for yourself, discuss- 
ing the subject with others, and reading. The more you 
know about your subject, the more clearly will the separate 
paragraph topics appear in your own mind, and the more 
fully and satisfactorily will you be able to develop them. 

EXERCISE 43 

Get together all the knowledge you can about mosquitoes. Some 
questions are suggested below ; you can doubtless think of a great many 
more. Some you can answer from your own experience ; some you can 
answer from your nature books, or from encylopaedias and the like; 
some your older friends or your more observant companions can answer 
for you ; some, very likely, you cannot get answered at all. But you can 
learn a great deal about mosquitoes by this process. 

Where do mosquitoes come from ? How many kinds of mosquitoes 
have you ever seen ? Why do mosquitoes bite ? Do they bite only 
human beings, or other creatures as well ? Why are they so much 
more troublesome at night than in the daytime ? Where are they 
during the day ? Why are there no mosquitoes in the winter ? 
How late in the season have you ever seen mosquitoes ? Where have 
you found mosquitoes the most troublesome ? Do they really " bite " ? 
What is it that they do ? 

EXERCISE 44 

Study as in the last exercise two or three other familiar insects or birds. 
Study in the same way some manufactured article — coal-oil, fire- 
arms, lace, a wagon, a pair of shoes, a newspaper. 

59. The information that you have collected in the 
last two exercises is only material for compositions. 
Composition, remember, is putting your thoughts together 
to tell something; and you have not yet made up your 
mind what it is that you want to tell. It would hardly be 
worth while to try to tell all at once everything that you 
have learned about mosquitoes. The first step is to deter- 



208 English Grammar 

mine, if it is not determined for you by some question or 
request for information, just what you mean to do in your 
composition. Get this fairly stated for yourself before you 
begin to compose. This purpose, or subject proper, is called 
the theme of the composition. From the general subject 
of mosquitoes, for instance, you may find after reflection, 
study, and discussion that the best theme for you is " How- 
to keep off mosquitoes ; " others, whose experiences or in- 
terests are different from yours or whose knowledge is 
wider, may prefer some of the following themes : — 

How Mosquitoes Breed. 
The Mechanism of the Mosquito's Proboscis. 
Why we have so Many Mosquitoes in Holbrook. 
Why Mosquitoes are more Active at Night. 
The Distinction between Mosquitoes and Gnats. 
How Mosquitoes carry Malaria. 

EXERCISE 45 

Derive from the subjects studied in Exercises 42 and 44 themes 
about which you know enough to write good compositions of one para- 
graph each. 

Deliver the compositions orally in class. 

EXERCISE 46 

Collect, by the methods already described, all the information you 
can about the following subjects, using your own experience and obser- 
vation as far as possible. Then discuss each subject in class and think 
it over until you find a theme on which you would like to write and 
about which you know enough to write a composition. State the theme 
accurately, and write it down. 

i. Spelling. 2. Hickory Nuts. 3. Smoke. 4. Making a Garden. 
5. Robins. 6. Sparrows. 7. The Charter Oak. 8. Daniel Boone. 
9. Street Lights. 10. Apples. 11. Baseball. 12. The Klondike. 
13. The River. 14. Composition. 15. Fishing. 16. The St. Louis 
Fair. 



Paragraphs 209 

60. The themes decided on in the preceding Exercise, 
being based on what you know and being an expression 
of what you mean to do, will serve as a guide to tell you 
whether this or that particular item of thought or informa- 
tion should be used. Often you will find that facts which 
before seemed quite unrelated fall at once into place when 
you have found out just what you mean to do. Their 
relation to your purpose becomes clear ; you see just how 
to use them. It is not improbable, for instance, that all 
the information you have collected about mosquitoes will 
be of service in developing the single theme, " How to 
keep off mosquitoes," some of it in the form of a single 
word or phrase, some of it running through several sen- 
tences. But if it is not of service to your theme, you must 
leave it out. Whether your composition is in one para- 
graph or more than one, it must have a definite theme 
and keep to it. 

The theme of a paragraph is called the paragraph topic. 

EXERCISE 47 

From the themes decided on in Exercise 46, select one for a para- 
graph topic. 

Make an oral composition before the class on the topic. 
Write out the composition in one paragraph. 

61. Study the following paragraphs until you can 
answer, for each one, these questions : — 

(1) What is the topic of the paragraph ? 

(2) Does everything in the paragraph contribute to its purpose ? 

(3) How many items of experience or observation are employed in 
it? 

(4) How many sentences in it contain two or more of these items ? 

(5) How are these items related in the sentence ? Is the sentence 
complex or compound ? 



210 English Grammar 

i . No doubt my dusty and tawny cowhides surprise the street walkers 
who wear patent leather congress shoes, but they do not consider how 
absurd such shoes would be in my vocation to thread the woods and 

swamps in. C was saying properly enough the other day, as we were 

making our way through a dense patch of shrub oak, " I suppose that 
those villagers think we wear these old, worn hats with holes all along 
the corners for oddity ; but Coombs, the musquash hunter and partridge 
and rabbit snarer, knows better. He understands us. He knows that 
a new and square-cornered hat would be spoiled in one excursion through 
the shrub oaks." When a citizen comes to take a walk with me, I 
commonly find that he is lame and disabled by his shoeing. He is sure 
to wet his feet, tear his coat, and jam his hat, and the superior qualities 
of my boots, coat, and hat appear. I once went into the woods with a 
party for a fortnight. I wore my old and common clothes, which were 
of Vermont gray. They wore, no doubt, the best they had for such an 
occasion, of a fashionable color and quality. I thought that they were a 
little ashamed of me while we were in the towns. They all tore their 
clothes badly but myself, and I, who, it chanced, was the only one pro- 
vided with needles and thread, enabled them to mend them. When we 
came out of the woods I was the best-dressed of the party. 

— Thoreau, Early Spring in Massachusetts. 

2. About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read in Junto, 1 but it 
was afterwards published) on the different accidents and carelessnesses 
by which houses were set on fire, with cautions against them, and means 
proposed of avoiding them. This was much spoken of as a useful 
piece, and gave rise to a project, which soon followed it, of forming a 
company for the more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual assistance 
in removing and securing of goods when in danger. Associates in this 
scheme were presently found, amounting to thirty. Our articles of agree- 
ment obliged every member to keep always in good order, and fit for use, 
a certain number of leather buckets, with strong bags and baskets for 
packing and transporting of goods, which were to be brought to every 
fire ; and we agreed to meet once a month and spend a social evening 
together, in discoursing and communicating such ideas as occurred to 
us upon the subject of fires as might be useful in our conduct on such 
occasions. — Franklin, Autobiography. 

1 A club for improvement in literature, morals, and citizenship, founded by 
Franklin in Philadelphia not long after his return from England. 



Paragraphs 211 

3. The utility of this institution soon appeared, and many more de- 
siring to be admitted than we thought convenient for one company, they 
were advised to form another, which was accordingly done ; and this 
went on, one new company being formed after anotner, till they became 
so numerous as to include most of the inhabitants who were men of 
property ; and now, at the time of my writing this, though upwards of 
fifty years since its establishment, that which I first formed, called the 
Union Fire Company, still subsists and flourishes, though the first mem- 
bers are all deceased but myself and one who is older by a year than I 
am. The small fines that have been paid by members for absence at 
the monthly meetings have been applied to the purchase of fire-engines, 
ladders, fire-hooks, and other useful implements for each company, so 
that I question whether there is a city in the world better provided with 
means of putting a stop to beginning conflagrations ; and in fact, since 
these institutions, the city has never lost by fire more than one or two 
houses at a time, and the flames have often been extinguished before the 
house in which they began has been half consumed. 

— Franklin, Autobiography. 

4. He 1 had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words and sen- 
tences so perfectly, that he might be heard and understood at a great 
distance, especially as his auditors, however numerous, observed the 
most exact silence. He preached one evening from the top of the 
courthouse steps, which are in the middle of Market Street, and of 
the west side of Second Street, which crosses it at right angles. Both 
streets were filled with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being 
among the hindmost in Market Street, I had the curiosity to learn 
how far he could be heard, by retiring backwards down the street 
towards the river ; and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front 
Street, when some noise in that street obscured it. Imagining then a 
semicircle, of which my distance should be the radius, and that it were 
filled with auditors, to each of whom I allowed two square feet, I com- 
puted that he might well be heard by more than thirty thousand. This 
reconciled me to the newspaper accounts of his having preached to 
twenty-five thousand people in the fields, and to the ancient histories of 
generals haranguing whole armies, of which I had sometimes doubted. 

— Franklin, Autobiography. 

1 Whitefield, the great Methodist preacher. 



212 English Grammar 

5. Have you heard the song of the field-sparrow? If you have 
lived in a pastoral country with broad upland pastures, you could 
hardly have missed him. Wilson, I believe, calls him the grassfinch, 
and was evidently unacquainted with his powers of song. The two 
white lateral quills in his tail, and his habit of running and skulking a 
few yards in advance of you as you walk through the fields, are suffi- 
cient to identify him. Not in meadows or orchards, but in high, 
breezy pasture-grounds, will you look for him. His song is most 
noticeable after sundown, when other birds are silent ; for which rea- 
son he has been aptly called the vesper-sparrow. The farmer following 
his team from the field at dusk catches his sweetest strain. His song 
is not so brisk and varied as that of the song-sparrow, being softer and 
wilder, sweeter and more plaintive. Add the best parts of the lay of 
the latter to the sweet, vibrating chant of the wood-sparrow, and you 
have the evening hymn of the vesper-bird — the poet of the plain, 
unadorned pastures. Go to those broad, smooth, uplying fields where 
the cattle and sheep are grazing, and sit down in the twilight on one of 
those warm, clean stones, and listen to this song. On every side, near 
and remote, from out the short grass which the herds are cropping, the 
strain rises. Two or three long, silver notes of peace and rest, ending 
in some subdued trills and quavers, constitute each separate song. 
Often you will catch only one or two of the bars, the breeze having 
blown the minor part away. Such unambitious, quiet, unconscious 
melody ! It is one of the most characteristic sounds in Nature. The 
grass, the stones, the stubble, the furrow, the quiet herds, and the 
warm twilight among the hills, are all subtilely expressed in this song ; 
this is what they are at last capable of. 



6. If you are describing any occurrence or a man, make two or 
more distinct reports at different times. Though you may think you 
have said all, you will to-morrow remember a whole new class of facts, 
which perhaps interested you most of all at the time, but did not pre- 
sent themselves to be reported. If we have recently met and talked 
with a man and would report our experience, we commonly make a 
very partial report at first, failing to seize the most significant, pictur- 
esque, and dramatic points. We describe only what we have had time 
to digest and dispose of in our minds, without being conscious that 
there were other things really more novel and interesting to us, which 



Paragraphs 213 

will not fail to occur to us and impress us suitably at last. How little 
that occurs to us are we prepared at once to appreciate ! We discrimi- 
nate at first only a few features, and we need to reconsider our experi- 
ence from many points of view and in various methods to preserve the 
whole force of it. _ Thoreau> Eariy spring in Massachusetts. 

62. There is no fixed length for paragraphs. As we 
have seen in Section 49, (6), the speeches of different per- 
sons in conversation are written in different paragraphs. 
Even apart from dialogue, a single short sentence may, for 
the sake of emphasis, be written as a paragraph by itself. 
In Charles Dudley Warner's How I killed a Bear (see 
Section 68) the sentence, " The bear was coming on," is 
twice printed as a separate paragraph for the emphasis of 
suspense, and as a means of connecting longer paragraphs 
that describe the hunter's state of mind. In story-writing, 
paragraphs are generally shorter than in other kinds of 
composition. 

63. For your work it will be better not to make a sepa- 
rate paragraph — except in reporting conversation — for a 
topic that takes less than two sentences. If you have no 
more than one or two sentences on a topic, see whether 
the topic cannot better be treated as a part of some larger 
topic and the matter of the sentences so arranged that it 
can be brought in under the larger heading; or (as is 
quite as likely to be the case) whether you do not really 
need more and more detailed knowledge of the topic, so 
that it will fill several sentences. If neither is the case, 
the topic had better be discarded altogether. 

64. In paragraphs explaining or describing something or 
arguing a point, it is often helpful to put your topic into 
the paragraph in the form of a sentence. Such a sen- 
tence is called a topic sentence. The topic sentence is most 



214 English Grammar 

often, though not always, placed at the beginning of the 
paragraph. 

The following descriptive paragraph begins with a topic 
sentence. The paragraph comes after the writer has told 
how beautiful the rain looked in the distant landscape, on 
the hills, and in the valley. 

It fell around the house drearily. It ran down into the tubs placed 
to catch it, dripped from the mossy' pump, and drummed on the up- 
turned milk-pails, and upon the brown and yellow beehives under the 
maple trees. The chickens seemed depressed, but the irrepressible blue 
jay screamed amid it all, with the same insolent spirit, his plumage un- 
tarnished by the wet. The barnyard showed a horrible mixture of mud 
and mire, through which Howard caught glimpses of the men, slumping 
to and fro without more additional protection than a ragged coat and a 
shapeless felt hat. — Garland, Main Travelled Roads. 

The following is one of the paragraphs in Mr. Bryce's 
analysis of the character of the American people in his 

American Commonwealth : — 

All the world knows that they are a humorous 'people. They are as 
conspicuously the purveyors of humor to the nineteenth century as the 
French were the purveyors of wit to the eighteenth. Nor is this sense 
of the ludicrous side of things confined to a few brilliant writers. It is 
diffused among the whole people ; it colors their ordinary life, and gives 
to their talk that distinctively new flavor which a European palate en- 
joys. Their capacity for enjoying a joke against themselves was oddly 
illustrated at the outset of the Civil War, a time of stern excitement, by 
the merriment which arose over the hasty retreat of the Federal troops 
at the battle of Bull Run. When William M. Tweed was ruling and 
robbing New York, and had set on the bench men who were openly 
prostituting justice, the citizens found the situation so amusing that they 
almost forgot to be angry. Much of President Lincoln's popularity, and 
much also of the gift he showed for restoring confidence to the North 
at the darkest moments of the war, was due to the humorous way he 
used to turn things, conveying the impression of not being himself 
uneasy, even when he was most so. 



Paragraphs 215 

EXERCISE 48 

Look back to see how many of the paragraphs you have studied 
have topic sentences. Do they always come at the beginning of the 
paragraph? Can you make topic sentences for those paragraphs that 
have none ? 

EXERCISE 49 

Think out a paragraph upon each of the following topic sentences, 
trying to illustrate, or prove, or explain, or enlarge, or apply the idea. 
Use the methods of study already given. Then write out the paragraphs, 
remembering that the topic sentence is not a title to be written with 
capital letters on a separate line above, but is one of the sentences that 
make up the paragraph. The title, if you have one, should be shorter, 
generally a word or phrase, not a sentence. 

1 . Football is a better game for cold weather than baseball. 

2. A fire brings all sorts of people together. 

3. It was a cold winter evening. 

4. From the top of the hill you get a wide view of the valley. 

5. A good way to raise money for the school library is to give a 
concert. 

6. The sidewalks were full of people hurrying home from work. 

7. A blue jay is a noisy bird. 

8. It takes a good deal of patience to train a dog. 

9. Tom was the strongest boy of his size I ever saw. 

10. The creek has not much water in it except in the spring. 

11. He laughs best who laughs last. 

12. Saturday afternoon is the busiest time in the week for the store- 
keepers in a small town. 

13. A good many things may happen to injure corn after it is up. 

14. Washington was persevering as well as brave. 

15. The busiest place in town is . 

16. Hiawatha taught his people many useful arts. 

17. The settlers at Jamestown had a hard time the first few years. 

18. Leatherstocking knew how to live in the woods. 

19. It is dangerous to ride on the foot-board of a car. 

20. Boys will do things when they get together in a crowd that they 
would never think of doing singly. 



i\6 English Grammar 

21. The invention of the steamboat did more than anything else for 
the prosperity of the Mississippi Valley. 

22. The old man knew just how to treat boys. 

23. Her manner was harsh, but we all knew that she was really very 
fond of the children. 

24. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. 

25. Dogs have a wonderful sense of smell. 

26. Everbody is interested in good government. 

27. All the pupils stop work when the bell rings. 

28. There is always work to be done on a farm. 

29. The most interesting study in school, to me, is . 

30. The work of the farmer is not as hard as that of the miner. 

31. The chief business of this town is . 

32. The rural mail delivery has done much to make country life 
desirable. 

33. The colonists revolted from England on true English principles. 

34. There were gay times on the Mississippi steamboats in the old 
days. 

35. The weather was very cold (farmyard scene). 

36. The weather was very cold (street scene) . 

37. It was a close game, but we won. 

38. The finest songster among the birds of this region is the ■• 

39. We had barely reached the shore when the storm burst upon us. 

40. For some days we had noticed signs of returning spring. 

41. The elder of the two I took to be a clergyman. 

42. She was cleverer than her sister, but not so industrious. 

65. The preceding Exercises should have given you some 
facility in framing and filling out single paragraphs. But 
most of the pieces of composition that you read in print, 
whether in the literature studied in school or in the news- 
papers and magazines, consist of many paragraphs. They 
are so long that if they were not paragraphed by occasional 
indentions we should get out of breath trying to keep up 
with them. So the writer, instead of running on in one 
even and unbroken current of sentences, takes his matter 
by steps or main points and works these out one at a time. 



Paragraphs 217 

66. Whether a composition should be in one paragraph 
or more than one can be determined only when you have 
brought your information together, thought it over, and 
seen how much and what there is in it. If, then, you find 
that there are several divisions, or stages, or main points, in 
what you have to say, make a new paragraph for each. 
But consider carefully whether the division or point is 
really important before you decide to make a separate 
paragraph for it. 

67. A good example of division in explanatory (called 
in rhetoric expository*) writing is to be found in that chapter 
of The American Commonwealth from which a paragraph 
has been quoted on page 214. Mr. Bryce is analyzing the 
American character as it affects American public life. 
One paragraph has for its topic sentence, "The Ameri- 
cans are a good-natured people ; " another, " All the world 
knows that they are a humorous people ; " another, " They 
are a hopeful people," another, " They have unbounded 
faith in what they call the People and in a democratic 
system of government;" another, "They are also a reli- 
gious people." And he has a good deal to say on each 
topic. Of the paragraphs for which the topic sentences 
are given above, the last, the shortest of the five, contains 
four sentences and one hundred and nineteen words. 

68. In Charles Dudley Warner's humorous story, How 
I Killed a Bear, the paragraphing is less regular but 
equally effective. The central part of the story is para- 
graphed as follows : 1 — 

When I had climbed the hill, I set up my rifle against a tree, and 
began picking berries, lured on from bush to bush by the black gleam 
of fruit (that always promises more in the distance than it realizes when 

1 Two paragraphs are omitted. 



21 8 English Grammar 

you reach it) ; penetrating farther and farther, through leaf-shaded cow- 
paths flecked with sunlight, into clearing after clearing. I could hear 
on all sides the tinkle of bells, the cracking of sticks, and the stamping 
of cattle that were taking refuge in the thicket from the flies. Occa- 
sionally, as I broke through a covert, I encountered a meek cow, who 
stared at me stupidly for a second, and then shambled off into the 
brush. I became accustomed to this dumb society, and picked on in 
silence, attributing all the wood noises to the cattle, thinking nothing 
of any real bear. In point of fact, however, I was thinking all the time 
of a nice romantic bear, and, as I picked, was composing a story about 
a generous she-bear who had lost her cub, and who seized a small girl 
in this very wood, carried her tenderly off to a cave, and brought her up 
on bear's milk and honey. When the girl got big enough to run away, 
moved by her inherited instincts, she escaped, and came into the valley 
to her father's house (this part of the story was to be worked out, so 
that the child would know her father by some family resemblance, and 
have some language in which to address him), and told him where the 
bear lived. The father took his gun, and, guided by the unfeeling 
daughter, went into the woods and shot the bear, who never made any 
resistance, and only, when dying, turned reproachful eyes upon her 
murderer. The moral of the tale was to be kindness to animals. 

I was in the midst of this tale, when I happened to look some rods 
away to the other edge of the clearing, and there was a bear ! He was 
standing on his hind legs, and doing just what I was doing, — picking 
blackberries. With one paw he bent down the bush, while with the 
other he clawed the berries into his mouth, — green ones and all. To 
say that I was astonished is inside the mark. I suddenly discovered 
that I didn't want to see a bear, after all. At about the same moment 
the bear saw me, stopped eating berries, and regarded me with a glad 
surprise. It is all very well to imagine what you would do under such 
circumstances. Probably you wouldn't do it : I didn't. The bear dropped 
down on his fore feet, and came slowly towards me. Climbing a tree 
was of no use, with so good a climber in the rear. If I started to run, 
I had no doubt the bear would give chase ; and although a bear cannot 
run down hill as fast as he can run up hill, yet I felt that he could get 
over this rough, brush-tangled ground faster than I could. 

The bear was approaching. It suddenly occurred to me how I could 
divert his mind until I could fall back upon my military base. My pail 
was nearly full of excellent berries, — much better than the bear could 



Paragraphs 219 

pick himself. I put the pail on the ground, and slowly backed away 
from it, keeping my eye, as beast-tamers do, on the bear. The ruse 
succeeded. 

The bear came up to the berries, and stopped. Not accustomed to 
eat out of a pail, he tipped it over, and nosed about in the fruit, " gorm- 
ing " (if there is such a word) it down, mixed with leaves and dirt, like 
a pig. The bear is a worse feeder than the pig. Whenever he dis- 
turbs a maple-sugar camp in the spring, he always upsets the buckets of 
syrup, and tramples round in the sticky sweets, wasting more than he 
eats. The bears's manners are thoroughly disagreeable. 

As soon as my enemy's head was down, I started and ran. Some- 
what out of breath, and shaky, I reached my faithful rifle. It was not a 
moment too soon. I heard the bear crashing through the brush after 
me. Enraged at my duplicity, he was now coming on with blood in 
his eye. I felt that the time of one of us was probably short. The 
rapidity of thought at such moments of peril is well known. I thought 
an octavo volume, had it illustrated and published, sold fifty thousand 
copies, and went to Europe on the proceeds, while that bear was loping 
across the clearing. As I was cocking the gun, I made a hasty and 
unsatisfactory review of my whole life. I noted that, even in such a 
compulsory review, it is almost impossible to think of any good thing 
you have done. The sins come out uncommonly strong. I recollected 
a newspaper subscription I had delayed paying years and years ago, 
until both editor and newspaper were dead, and which now never could 
be paid to all eternity. 

The bear was coming on. 

I tried to remember what I had read about encounters with bears. 
I couldn't recall an instance in which a man had run away from a bear 
in the woods and escaped, although I recalled plenty where the bear had 
run from the man and got off. I tried to think what is the best way to 
kill a bear with a gun, when you are not near enough to club him with 
the stock. My first thought was to fire at his head ; to plant the ball 
between his eyes ; but this is a dangerous experiment. The bear's 
brain is very small ; and unless you hit that, the bear does not mind a 
bullet in his head ; that is, not at the time. I remembered that the 
instant death of the bear would follow a bullet planted just back of his 
fore leg, and sent into his heart. This spot is also difficult to reach, 
unless the bear stands off, side towards you, like a target. I finally 
determined to fire at him generally. 



220 English Grammar 

The bear was coming on. 

The contest seemed to me very different from anything at Creed- 
moor. I had carefully read the reports of the shooting there ; but it 
was not easy to apply the experience I had thus acquired. I hesitated 
whether I had better fire lying on my stomach ; or lying on my back, 
and resting the gun on my toes. But in neither position, I reflected, 
could I see the bear until he was upon me. The range was too short ; 
and the bear wouldn't wait for me to examine the thermometer, and 
note the direction of the wind. Trial of the Creedmoor method, 
therefore, had to be abandoned ; and I bitterly regretted that I had 
not read more accounts of offhand shooting. 

For the bear was coming on. 

I tried to fix my last thoughts upon my family. As my family is 
small, this was not difficult. Dread of displeasing my wife, or hurting 
her feelings, was uppermost in my mind. What would be her anxiety 
as hour after hour passed on, and I did not return ! What would the 
rest of the household think as the afternoon passed, and no blackberries 
came ! What would be my wife's mortification when the news was 
brought that her husband had been eaten by a bear ! I cannot imagine 
anything more ignominious than to have a husband eaten by a bear. 

The bear was coming on ; he had, in fact, come on. I judged that 
he could see the whites of my eyes. All my subsequent reflections were 
confused. I raised the gun, covered the bear's breast with the sight, 
and let drive. Then I turned, and ran like a deer. I did not hear the 
bear pursuing. I looked back. The bear had stopped. He was lying 
down. I then remembered that the best thing to do after having fired 
your gun is to reload it. I slipped in a charge, keeping my eyes on the 
bear. He never stirred. I walked back suspiciously. There was a 
quiver in the hind legs, but no other motion. Still he might be sham- 
ming: bears often sham. To make sure, I approached, and put a ball 
into his head. He didn't mind it now; he minded nothing. Death 
had come to him with a merciful suddenness. He was calm in death. 
In order that he might remain so, I blew his brains out, and then 
started for home. I had killed a bear ! 

Notwithstanding my excitement, I managed to saunter into the house 
with an unconcerned air. There was a chorus of voices : — 

" Where are your blackberries ? " 

" Why were you gone so long ? " 



Paragraphs 221 



" Where's your pail ? " 

"I left the pail." 

« Left the pail ! What for ? " 

"A bear wanted it." 

" Oh, nonsense ! " 

" Well, the last I saw of it, a bear had it." 

" Oh, come ! You didn't really see a bear ? " 

" Yes, but I did really see a real bear." 

" Did he run ? " 

" Yes ; he ran after me." 

" I don't believe a word of it. What did you do ? " 

" Oh ! Nothing particular — except kill the bear." 

Cries of " Gammon ! " " Don't believe it ! " " Where's the bear ? " 

" If you want to see the bear, you must go up into the woods. I 
couldn't bring him down alone." 

Having satisfied the household that something extraordinary had 
occurred, and excited the posthumous fear of some of them for my safety, 
I went down into the valley to get help. The great bear hunter, who 
keeps one of the summer boarding-houses, received my story with a 
smile of incredulity ;. and the incredulity spread to the other inhabitants 
and to the boarders as soon as the story was known. However, as I 
insisted in all soberness, and offered to lead them to the bear, a party 
of forty or fifty people at last started off with me to bring the bear in. 
Nobody believed there was any bear in the case ; but everybody who 
could get a gun carried one ; and we went into the woods armed with 
guns, pistols, pitchforks, and sticks, against all contingencies or sur- 
prises, — a. crowd made up mostly of scoffers and jeerers. 

But when I led the way to the fatal spot, and pointed out the bear, 
lying peacefully wrapped in his own skin, something like terror seized 
the boarders, and genuine excitement the natives. It was a no-mistake 
bear, by George ! and the hero of the fight — well, I will not insist upon 
that. But what a procession that was, carrying the bear home ! and 
what a congregation was speedily gathered in the valley to see the bear ! 
Our best preacher up there never drew anything like it on Sunday. 

69. Observe that paragraphs 5, 7, 9, and 11 are all 
about what he thought as the bear approached him. Yet 
it would have made a long and heavy paragraph, hard to 
carry in the mind, if it had all been written as one. So 



222 English Grammar 

the author has made of it several paragraphs, and between 
each two has reminded us of the danger that was threaten- 
ing by the short paragraph, " The bear was coming on." 
The unusual shortness of this repeated paragraph makes it 
emphatic ; and its repetition enforces upon us the rapidity 
of thought in such moments of excitement, when things that 
it takes paragraphs to write out are thought and remembered 
in the few seconds that it took the bear to run across the 
pasture. Nor are the longer paragraphs merely arbitrary 
sections of what he thought, cut off into convenient lengths. 
Each has its topic, different from the topic of any of the 
others. Paragraph 5 tells how he thought of his past life ; 
paragraph 7, how he thought of the different parts of the 
animal he might aim at; paragraph 9, of the different 
ways of sighting that he had read of; paragraph 11, of 
what would happen after he was dead. In the talk that 
ensued after he returned to the house, observe that the 
different questions and answers are paragraphed sepa- 
rately, except the miscellaneous outcry when he says he 
has killed a bear, which is thrown all into one paragraph 
under the descriptive term " cries." 

EXERCISE 50 

Tell of some dangerous or exciting experience of your own, — what 
you did and how you felt ; what other people did and said. 

EXERCISE 51 

If there is a building going up in your neighborhood, tell, in one 
paragraph, what the men were doing a week ago, and how far the build- 
ing was advanced ; in another paragraph, what they are doing now. 

Tell how to make a snow fort, or a water-wheel ; or how a pavement 
is laid, or a telephone wire strung. How many paragraphs have you 
made ? What is the topic or purpose of each ? Write out the com- 
position. 



Paragraphs 223 



EXERCISE 52 

Take one of the topics in Exercise 49 that you found too large for 
one paragraph, or that seemed, when you had thought it over, to fall 
into two or more divisions. State then the topic of each division, and 
see how much you have to tell under each. 

EXERCISE 53 

Study, in the way described in Section 57, the scene at the railway 
station, or at the post office, or in the school yard, at three different 
times. Give the three paragraphs orally. Then write out the whole 
composition. 

EXERCISE 54 

Describe the appearance and the habits of some bird or other crea- 
ture with which you are familiar, telling in one paragraph what it looks 
like, in another where it lives, in another what it lives on, and so forth. 
If under any of the topics that suggest themselves you find that you 
have but one bare fact to tell, see whether that topic may not properly 
be combined with or brought under some other topic. 

EXERCISE 55 

Describe some house that you are familiar with. First, tell where 
it is — with regard to your own house, or the schoolhouse, or the town. 
Next, describe its situation and its immediate surroundings — trees, 
lawn, buildings, etc. Then describe the house itself — its size, shape, 
color, of what it is built, whether it is new or old, whether it is like the 
other houses in the neighborhood, and if not, how it differs from them ; 
mention anything you see that suggests the number, age, or business 
of the people that live in the house — and so on. Your theme here is 
the place itself, what it is and what it means to you. Do not trust to 
your recollection, but go and study it on the spot. 

EXERCISE 56 

Tell your experience at the circus, or at the county fair, an auction, 
a mass-meeting, or some other place where many people were gathered 
together. Divide into paragraph topics as in previous exercises, each 



224 English Grammar 

time stating your topic. For instance, a composition on what you saw 
at the circus might perhaps fall into the following divisions : — 

i . Getting in : The crowd at the gate, the line of wagons, the noise, 
the ticket-seller. 

2. The animals : The rows of cages, the monkeys (or some other 
creatures that particularly interested you), the camels, and the elephants, 
how and what they ate, the crowd moving on into the main tent. 

3. The performance : The three rings, the clowns, the man in the 
trapeze, the trained animals, the chariot race. 

4. The end of the show : The people streaming out, the circus men 
taking down the seats, the jam at the exit, the disorder and litter out- 
side, how you felt when it was all over. 

Under 2 and 3 it will not be worth while to try to tell everything 
you saw. Give a rapid view of the whole, and a more extended account 
of one or two things that were especially striking. 

SUBJECTS FROM WHICH TO DERIVE THEMES FOR 
COMPOSITIONS 

Daniel Boone. The Mayflower. 

The Battle of Bunker Hill. The Russian-Japanese War. 

King Alfred. The First Settlement of This Town. 

Moses. Shipping Cattle to Market. 

Franklin. Grain Elevators. 

Patrick Henry. The Telephone. 

Lincoln. An Automobile. 



USE OF PUNCTUATION MARKS 

70. The object of punctuation is to help the reader to 
understand what is written. Failure to use the proper 
marks will often make what is written unintelligible, or 
make it convey a meaning not intended. See to it, then : — 

(1) That your punctuation shows where the sentences 
begin and end; i.e. always have one of the final marks 
(period, question mark, exclamation mark) at the end of 



Paragraphs 225 

each sentence, and do not punctuate what is only part of a 
sentence as if it were a whole sentence. 

(2) That the comma is used for the lesser and the semi- 
colon for the larger or more complex divisions of the 
thought of the sentence. 

(3) That no punctuation marks are used unless they 
are needed to show how the words are to be grouped in 
thought. 

Of the punctuation marks used only within the sen- 
tence, the most important are the comma and the semi- 
colon. 

THE COMMA 

71. The comma (,) has uses more varied and harder to 
define accurately than those of any other mark of punctua- 
tion. The best way to learn the proper use of the comma 
is to watch its use in good printing. Some of the simpler 
rules are : — 

(1) Separate by commas words or phrases of the same 
grammatical construction occurring in a series : — 

The chest contained a hammer, a saw, a screw-driver, a plane, and two 

small chisels. 
Past fields of ripening wheat, past lonely farmhouses, past dingy little 

factory towns, the train sped on. 
In the corner next the window stood a tall, old-fashioned, brass-bound 

chest of drawers. 

But if the coordinate phrases are long, or are themselves 
subdivided by commas, they must be separated by semi- 
colons : — 

Past fields of wheat, fast ripening under the July sun ; past lonely farm- 
houses ; past dingy little factory towns, shrouded in smoke and 
grimy with coal-dust, the train sped on. 



226 English Grammar 

In a series of adjectives the comma is used only between 
those that are really coordinate in application ; thus we 
write 

dingy, grimy, smoky towns, 
but 

dingy little factory towns, 

because in the latter case the first three words do not sepa- 
rately and coordinately modify towns, but each in turn 
modifies a notion made up of all the following words. 
They are factory towns ; the factory towns are little ; the 
little factory towns are dingy. Similarly we write 

a great American statesman, 
but 

a brave, far-seeing statesman. 

(2) Set off by commas words or phrases in apposition 
(Grammar, Section 50, (3)), and words or phrases indicat- 
ing the person addressed (Grammar, Section 50, (4)): — 

The most backward of European states, Russia, is engaged in desperate 

conflict with Japan, the foremost of the Oriental powers. 
Yes, sir, I will attend to it. 

You see, my dear sir, there is nothing else to do. 
O Lord, we beseech thee to hear us. 

Note. — When an appositive epithet has come to be felt merely as 
a part of a proper name, the comma is omitted : William the Conqueror, 
Alfred the Great. 

(3) Set off by commas (before and after) parts of a sen- 
tence that are slightly parenthetical, especially words or 
phrases used within the sentence to connect it with preced- 
ing sentences : — 

There is, in fact, no better lawyer in the town than Judge Alton. 
We reached the station, however, in time to catch the train. 
The house, if house it could be called, had but one room and no 
windows. 



Paragraphs 227 

When these detached elements come first in the sentence, 
they must be followed by a comma : — 

In fact, there is no better lawyer in the town than Judge Alton. 

(4) Additional, as distinguished from restrictive, relative 
clauses are set off by commas : — 

The Mississippi River, which was the great interior highway of com- 
merce before the war, is likely to recover its importance as a channel 
of trade when the Panama canal is completed. 

This story was told me by my father, who was living on the ranch when 
the attack was made. 

But : — 

The man that wrote this letter is now in Europe. 

People that wait for something to turn up never get very far up them- 
selves. 

(5) The comma is used before a direct quotation (but see 
also under Colon, below). 

(6) Separate by commas the members of a compound 
sentence, if the members are long or if each member has 
a separate subject and predicate : — 

No one could fling the bar farther than he, and no one could ride more 
difficult horses. 

He was always reckless of personal danger, and had a fierce fighting 
spirit which nothing could check when once unchained. But as a 
rule these fiery impulses and strong passions were under absolute 
control of an iron will, and they never clouded his judgment or 
warped his keen sense of justice. 

If, however, the members of a compound sentence are 
very distinct in thought, and especially if they are them- 
selves subdivided by commas, they are separated by semi- 
colons. See under Semicolon, below. 



228 English Grammar 

THE SEMICOLON 

72. The semicolon (;) is used : — 

(i) Between clauses in compound sentences, to mark a 
stronger division in the thought than the comma indicates. 
By this means a series of short sentences, which as sepa- 
rate sentences would be given undue emphasis, are linked 
together to form one sentence : — 

The little wheels and springs of my machinery have been well oiled ; 
a multitude of puppets have been dressed in character, representing all 
varieties of fashion, from the Puritan cloak and jerkin to the latest 
Oak Hall coat ; the lamps are trimmed, and shall brighten into noon- 
tide sunshine, or fade away in moonlight, or muffle their brilliancy 
in a November fog, as the nature of the scene may require ; and, in 
short, the exhibition is just ready to begin. 

The width of the valley, also, often changes ; the glacier is forced 
through narrow gorges, widening after it has passed them ; the 
centre of the glacier moves more quickly than the sides, and the sur- 
face more quickly than the bottom. 

(2) To separate clauses or phrases that have a common 
grammatical dependence : — 

With malice toward none ; with charity for all ; with firmness in the 
right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
work we are in ; to bind up the nation's wounds ; to care for him 
who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and for his orphan 
— to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace 
among ourselves, and with all nations. 

In the first of these uses the semicolon stands midway 
between the comma and the period. In both it marks 
a division similar to, but stronger than, that marked by 
the comma. Especially is it used between members of 
sentences that are subdivided by commas, in order to dis- 
tinguish clearly between the coordinate and the sub- 
ordinate parts. 



Paragraphs 229 

(3) Before thus, as, viz., for example, i.e., and the like, 
introducing examples or specific details. This book 
abounds in illustrations. 

Note. — Never use the semicolon as the closing mark of a sentence ; 
that is, do not begin with a capital letter, as if for a new sentence, after 
a semicolon. 

THE PERIOD 

73. The period, or full stop (.) is used : — 

(1) At the close of most declarative and imperative sen- 
tences. 

(2) After abbreviations (Section 27). 

THE QUESTION MARK 

74. The interrogation or question mark (?) is used after 
interrogative sentences (Sections 16—18). 

It is sometimes used after the parts of a compound 
interrogative sentence; that is, one question may follow 
another in the same sentence, with separate question 
marks but without new capitals : — 
But where is Mary ? and John ? and little Alice ? 

THE EXCLAMATION MARK 

75. The exclamation mark (!) is used after exclamatory 
sentences (Grammar, Section 2), and after imperative and 
declarative sentences when they express strong excitement 
(Sections 21, 45-46). It is sometimes used after exclama- 
tory words or phrases within the sentence (47). 

THE COLON 

76. The colon (:) is used : — 

(1) Before a quotation formally introduced (Section 49, 
(9), (*) ). 



230 English Grammar 

(2) To mark that what follows is an example, or list, 
referred to in what precedes the colon. In this use, the 
colon is commonly reenforced by a dash, as in this book. 

(3) Rarely, to mark main divisions of compound sen- 
tences when the divisions are subdivided by semicolons. 
Modern practice tends to use only the semicolon for this 
purpose, and where that does not discriminate adequately, 
to break up the long sentence into smaller sentences. 

THE DASH 

77. The dash ( — ) is used : — 

(1) To show that a sentence is left unfinished: — 
But, my dear sir, I beg that you — 

(2) To indicate hurried, broken, or emphatic utterance: — 

Round and round we swept — not with any uniform movement — but 
in dizzying swings and jerks, that sent us sometimes only a few hun- 
dred yards — sometimes nearly the complete circuit of the whirl. 

So much for the intellect; but where was the heart? That, indeed, 
had withered — had contracted — had hardened — had perished ! 

(3) To set off parenthetical matter that interrupts the 
grammatical course of the sentence : — 

She addresses the people in a wild, shrill voice, — wild and shrill it 
must be, to suit such a figure, — which makes them tremble and 
turn pale, although they crowd open-mouthed to hear her. 

His name — but I could never learn whether it was his real one, or a 
nickname that had grown out of his habits and success in life — 
was Gathergold. 

The dash is often employed now for this purpose where 
older style would have used the marks of parenthesis. 

(4) Before a word or phrase that summarizes a series of 
phrases or clauses. See the last part of the example under 
Semicolon, (2). 



Paragraphs 23 1 

(5) After a colon, to introduce examples. See Section 76. 

Note. —The dash should be used but sparingly. In the first place, 
consider whether the comma is not a sufficient mark for your purpose 
in any given instance ; in the second place, bear in mind that a style 
so halting or excited as to need frequent dashes is likely to be neither 
clear nor forceful. 

MARKS OF PARENTHESIS 

The marks of parenthesis ( ) are used, like the dash, 
to set off matter that interrupts the grammatical course 
of the sentence. They are most often employed at the 
present time to set off references, definitions, translations, 
technical terms, and the like : — 

The abbreviation e.g. (for the Latin exempli gratia) is written with 

small letters. 
This problem we have already considered (see Chapter V, above) from 

the standpoint of economics. 

BRACKETS 

78. Brackets [ ] are used to mark interpolations, addi- 
tions, and explanations made by the writer in a quotation 
from some one else, or by an editor in the text he is 
editing. What stands between the brackets is to be under- 
stood as the addition of the quoter or editor, and not a 
part of the quotation or of the text edited. For example : — 

The chronicler records that "in this year [895] the Danes brought 
their ships up the Thames." 

QUOTATION MARKS 

79. Quotation marks (" ") are used : — 
.(1) To set off direct quotations (Section 49). 

(2) To mark words or phrases as slang, colloquial, pro- 
vincial, or technical expressions (Section 49, (12) ). 

(3) To set off the names of books, pictures, etc. (Sec- 
tion 51.)' 



232 English Grammar 

ITALICS 

80. Italic letters (indicated in Ms. by a line drawn un- 
derneath) are used: — 

(1) For emphasis : — 

I dared not — I dared not speak f 

This use of italics is much less frequent than it formerly 
was, and should be very sparingly made. Such use upon 
slight occasions gives the impression of lack of self-control 
on the part of the writer. 

(2) To indicate that a word or phrase belongs to another 

language : — 

E pluribus unum was their motto. 

Many foreign words have become so familiar in English 
that they are no longer written in italics ; e.g. stimulus, 
phenomenon, status, amateur. 

(3) In writing the names of vessels, periodicals, and 
books (Section 51). 

(4) In examples of grammatical rules and the like, to 
mark the words that illustrate the rule. They are so used 
frequently in this book. 

THE HYPHEN 

81. The hyphen (-) is used : — 

(1) Between syllables, to show that a word is unfinished 
at the end of a line (Section 34). 

(2) Between the parts of compound words (Section 35). 

THE APOSTROPHE 

82. The apostrophe (>) is used : — 

(1) To mark the possessive case of nouns (Section 20, (1)). 



Paragraphs 233 

(2) In contracted forms, to mark the omission of part of 
a word (Section 20, (2)). . 

(3) In writing the plural of letters and figures (Section 
20, (3)). 

CAPITAL LETTERS 

83. Capital letters are used : — 

(1) At the beginning of each new sentence. 

(2) At the beginning of every line of verse. 

(3) In the pronoun / and the interjection O (not 0J1). 

(4) In writing names of the Deity and words indicating 
the Bible or parts thereof. 

Note. — Pronouns referring to the Deity are capitalized by some 
writers. 

(5) In beginning proper nouns, proper adjectives, and 
titles of address when used with proper nouns. 

Under this head fall the names of the months, of the 
days of the week, of religious denominations, and of politi- 
cal parties ; also the words North, East, West, South, 
Orient, etc., when they denote political or geographical 
divisions, but not when they indicate simply direction. 

Note. — Some adjectives and adverbs, originally derived from proper 
nouns, are now spelled with small letters. So we write "the labors of 
Hercules," but " with herculean efforts : " " macadamized " roads are so 
called from their inventor, a Scotch engineer named MacAdam. 

Race names are properly written with capitals ; but there 
is a growing tendency to write them with a small letter 
when they do not indicate any national or political organi- 
zation : negro, indian, creole. 

(6) In beginning direct quotations (Section 49, (7), (8)). 

(7) In beginning the principal words of the title of a 
composition. 

For the rest, be sparing of capital letters. If usage is 
divided, prefer the small letter. 



APPENDIX 



CAUTIONS 

To the Pupil. — Having completed the grammar, you have now 
some conception of the theory of correct expression, of grammatical 
propriety. But you may have, previously, fallen into careless habits of 
speech ; and, if so, what you have learned in the study of grammar, 
valuable as it is, will have little bearing upon your daily speech, unless 
you make a conscious effort to correct your bad habits of speech in the 
light of your present knowledge of what is grammatically correct. 

The other day I heard a boy, who is in the second year of the high 
school, say to another boy, " I ain't had it." Now, " I ain't " is a sup- 
posed contraction of " I am not, 1 ' and nobody would say, " I am not 
had it." The same boy would, doubtless, say, "You wasn't there, was 
you ? " although he has learned, in the conjugation of the verb to be, 
that the right form is "you were." A knowledge of the right forms, 
acquired by the study of grammar, ought to serve as a corrective to 
wrong habits of speech ; but unless the pupil conscientiously puts into 
practice what he has learned to be right, a theoretical knowledge of the 
grammar, as lessons to be recited in class, will be of little use in the 
speech of everyday life. 

The only proper contractions of the verb to be, for instance, are : — 

i. I'm not 

2. You're not, or you aren't 

3. He's not, or he isn't 

1 . We're not, or we aren't 

2. You're not, or you aren't 

3. They're not, or they aren't 



1 . I wasn't (not wuzn't) 

2. You weren't (not warn't) 

3. He wasn't (not wuzn't) 

234 



Appendix 235 

1. We weren't (not warn't) 

2. You weren't (not warn't) 

3. They weren't (not warn't) 

There are no such words in the grammar of English as ain't, wuz 
wuzn't, and warrtt. 

You say correctly "he won't," because won't stands for wol (old 
form of will) and not ; but " he don't " is wrong, because don't stands 
for do not, and the proper form with he is does, negative doesnH. If it 
is wrong to say " that do not matter," it is also wrong to say " that 
don't matter," though it is heard very often, because we say " I don't," 
"you don't," "we don't," "they don't," and in speech the tendency is 
always toward uniformity. 

"It was so cold 1 thought I'd freeze" is sometimes heard. Now Pd 
here is a contraction of / would, not of / should, and the only reply to 
" I thought I would freeze " is, What changed your mind? So, in " If it 
turns colder, I'll freeze," /'// is a contraction of / will, not of / shall, 
and in these sentences shall and should are the proper auxiliaries, the 
right use of which, in general, the pupil should have learned in the study 
of grammar. 

You have learned that the past tense of lie (as, to lie down) is lay, 
the past participle, lain, and yet perhaps nine boys out of ten who study 
grammar would say, " I laid on the grass yesterday and went to sleep 
and, when I had laid there about an hour, I got up." And girls who have 
studied grammar come in sometimes " to set awhile " with their friends, 
though they learned that set is a transitive verb, requiring an object, as 
"to set the table," "to set a hen." It is right to say "the sun sets" 
— good usage makes it right; and people who raise chickens invaria- 
bly speak of " a setting hen," and, perhaps, they are the only people who 
have a right to decide in this matter, the grammarians to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 

" Bursted," as in " the boiler bursted," may sometime in the future be 
good English, but at present the past tense of burst is still burst, as you 
have learned in the grammar. 

The past participle of tell is not done told, as " I have done told 
him," and one done is enough in " I have done it." The use of the past 
participle for the past tense, as " I taken," " I done it," etc., is due, per- 
haps, to an imperfect apprehension of the spoken " I've taken," " I've 
done," etc., in which the contraction of have is scarcely audible. These 



2^6 English Grammar 

are heard everywhere in the speech of the illiterate, and are gross viola- 
tions of grammatical propriety, inexcusable in a pupil who has studied 
grammar. 

Mistakes are not, by any means, confined to the verb forms ; the 
plurals of foreign nouns are frequently misused, as " a strange phe- 
nomena" (for phenomenon), "a strata (for stratum) of rock," "an 
alumni " (for alumnus), etc. It is often said a boy will learn these from 
his dictionary, but when ? 

By a strange perversity a pupil will leave off the apostrophe in the 
possessive case of nouns, where it always belongs, and put it in the 
possessive of personal pronouns (ifs, yonr's, theirs, etc.), where it 
never belongs. I knew a college graduate, a B.S., who persisted in 
writing who's for whose. 

These are only a few specimens out of many common grammatical 
errors which it would be impossible to note here at length. These are 
intended to show the pupil that the study of grammar has its practical 
side, as well as a disciplinary value. An accurate knowledge of gram- 
mar and grammatical analysis is often indispensable to the right inter- 
pretation of literature and to confident correctness in composition. 
Without strict grammatical training the pupil finds himself at a disad- 
vantage in trying to grasp the meaning of an involved sentence, as 
well as in the attempt to express without ambiguity his own thoughts. 

It is true that greater freedom of expression is allowed in colloquial 
English, the language of conversation, than in literary English, the 
language of books ; but it should not be forgotten that there is a stand- 
ard of spoken English, as well as a standard of written English, to 
which good speakers have to conform. We learn to write as we learned 
to talk, by imitation, and it is one of the blessings of life to have, in 



INDEX 



A or an, 66. 

Abbreviations, 179, 180. 

Abstract nouns, 36-37. 

Active voice, 74. 

Address of letters, 173-174, 186. 

Adjectives, 64 ff.; attributive, 122; 
predicate, 123; appositive, 122; de- 
monstrative, 65 ; indefinite, 65 ; rela- 
tive, 65 ; interrogative, 65 ; numeral, 
64; comparison of, 67, 68; used as 
nouns, 69. 

Adjuncts, 10, 14. 

Adverb clauses, 19, 20, 21. 

Adverb phrases, 8. 

Adverbial objective, 14, 119. 

Adverbs, 101 ff. ; classification of, 101 ; 
conjunctive, 102, no; pronominal, 
102; comparison of, 103. 

Analysis, 26 ff. 

Antecedent, 56; agreement with, 58, 
59; omitted, 58. 

Apostrophe, 169, 232-233. 

Appositive, 46, 115. 

Articles, 66. 

A s, relative, 59. 

Asking questions, 162, 165, 206. 

Attributive, 122. 

Auxiliary verbs, 97-98; modal, 134 ff. 

Be, copula, 72 ; conjugation of, 83-84 ; 

auxiliary, 97-98. 
Brackets, 231. 
Business letters, 173-185. 
But, as relative, 59. 



Can, 135. 

Capital letters, 167, 171, 178, 179, 195, 

233. 

Cardinal numerals, 64. 

Case — see Nominative, Possessive, 
Objective. 

Cautions, 234 ff. 

Clauses, 16 ; noun clauses, 17 ; adjec- 
tive clauses, 18; adverb clauses, 19- 
21. 

Close of letters, 173, 174, 186. 

Cognate object, 53, 72, 117. 

Collective nouns, 37. 

Colon, 178, 195, 229. 

Comma, 178, 195, 196, 225-227. 

Common nouns, 36. 

Comparison of adjectives, 67-68; of 
adverbs, 103. 

Complementary infinitive, 142. 

Complements, 72-73. 

Complex sentence, 16. 

Composition, 155. 

Compound nouns, plural of, 43-44. 

Compound personal pronouns, 53-54. 

Compound sentences, 24. 

Compound subject, 6; compound 
predicate, 6. 

Concession, adverbs of, ioi; conjunc- 
tions of, 109; clauses of, 20; sub- 
junctive of, 132. 

Conditional sentences, 137-138. 

Conjugation, 83 ff. 

Conjunctions, 109; coordinate, 109; 
subordinate, 109. 



237 



2 3 8 



Index 



Conjunctive adverbs, 102, I IO. 

Contractions, 169-170. 

Coordinate clauses, 24; conjunctions, 

109. 
Copula, 72. 
Correlatives, 109. 
Could, 135. 

Dare, 97. 
Dash, 178, 230. 
Dates, 183; of letters, 173. 
Dative case, 118. 
Declarative sentences, 1, 167. 
Declension, 35, 45. 
Defective verbs, 96-97. 
Definite article, 66. 
Demonstrative pronouns, 61 ; demon- 
strative adjectives, 65. 
Direct object, 45, 48, 71, 117. 
Division of syllables, 166, 184. 
Do, 98. 
Double possessive, 117. 

Emphatic pronouns, 54. 
Emphatic tense forms, 79. 
Exclamation mark, 171, 191, 192, 196, 

229. 
Exclamatory sentences, 1, 191. 

Familiar letters, 186-189. 
Feminine gender, 38. 
Figures, use of, 182, 183. 
Finite verb, 76, 134. 
Foreign plurals, 42-43. 
Future perfect tense, 78. 
Future tense, 78. 

Gender of nouns, 38 ; of pronouns, 

5 1 - 

Gerund, 146. 

Greeting, of letters, 173, 174, 186. 



Have, conjugation of, 84; auxiliary, 98. 
Hyphen, 166, 184, 185, 232. 

Imperative mood, 76. 

Imperative sentence, I, 171. 

Impersonal verbs, 97. 

Incomplete predication, verbs of, 72, 
115, 118. 

Indefinite article, 66. 

Indefinite pronouns, 61. 

Indenting, 166; of paragraphs, 204. 

Indicative mood, 76. 

Indirect object, 45, 118. 

Indirect question, 131. 

Infinitive, 81, 140-143. 

Inflection, 35. 

ing, words ending in, 82, 145. 

Interjections, 1 1 2. 

Interrogative: pronouns, 55; adjec- 
tives, 65 ; adverbs, 102 ; sentences, 
1, 167. 

Intransitive verbs, 71, 74. 

Invitations, 1 89-1 9 1 ; model, 190. 

Irregular comparison, 68, 103. 

Irregular weak verbs, 94-96. 

It, preparatory, 12; as cognate ob- 
ject, 53. 

Italics, 199, 232. 

Lay, 197. 

Letters, 173; business, 173-185 ; fa- 
miliar, 186-189; model, 175-178, 
181, 187, 188. 

Lie, 197. 

Like, 118. 

Logical conditional, 137. 

Many a, 65. 
Margin, 166. 
Masculine gender, 38. 
May, might, 135, 136. 



Index 



239 



Methinks. 97. 

Model invitations, 190. 

Model letters, 175-178, 181, 18/, 188. 

Mood — see Indicative, Imperative, 

Subjunctive. 
More and Most, comparison with, 68, 

103. 
Must, 137. 

Names of sovereigns, 184. 

Near, 118. 

Need, 97. 

Neither . . . nor, 128. 

Neuter gender, 38. 

Nominative case, 45, 46, 114-116. 

Noun clauses, 17. 

Nouns, 36; common, 36; proper, 36; 
abstract, 36 ; collective, 37 ; com- 
pound, 43-44 ; parsing of, 49 ; used 
as adjectives, 69 ; used adverbially, 
48 ; inflection of, 45. 

Number, 40-44, 80. 

Numbers, 182, 183, 184. 

Numeral adjectives, 64. 

Object, direct, 45,48, 71, 117; indi- 
rect, 45, 118; cognate, 53, 72, 1 1 7. 
Objective case, 48, 1 17-120. 
Ought, 96. 

Paragraphs, 202 ; in conversation, 1 95 ; 

faulty, 206 ; length of, 213, 222. 
Paragraph topic, 209. 
Parentheses, 231. 
Parsing, 49. 
Participle, 146-148. 
Parts of speech, 33. 
Passive voice, 74. 
Past perfect tense, 78. 
Past tense, 78. 
Perfect participle, 82, 148. 



Period, 167, 171, 178, 179, 229. 

Person, 51, 80. 

Personal pronouns, 51-54, 169. 

Phrase, 8. 

Plural number, formation of, 40-44 ; 

in foreign nouns, 42-43 ; of letters 

and figures, 170. 
Positive degree, 67. 
Possessive case, 47-48, 116-117, 169. 
Possessive pronouns, 64. 
Predicate, 4, 13-14. 
Predicate nominative, 46, 73. 
Prepositions, 106-107. 
Present perfect tense, 78, 129. 
Present tense, 78, 129. 
Principal verbs, 98. 
Progressive tense forms, 79, 148. 
Pronominal adjectives, 64. 
Pronouns, 51. 
Proper nouns, 36. 
Punctuation, 192, 193, 194, 224 ff. ; 

of letters, 178. 
Purpose, 109, 131. 

Question mark, 167, 172, 196, 229. 
Quotation, rules for, 194-197; inter- 
rupted, 196. 
Quotation marks, 194, 196, 199, 231. 

Raise, 197. 

Reciprocal pronouns, 61. 

Reflexive pronouns, 53. 

Relative pronouns, 56-59. 

Result, 131. 

Retained object, 75. 

Rise, 197. 

Semicolon, 228. 
Sentences, 1, 156-159. 
Set, 198. 
Shall, 96, 98, 139, 188. 



240 



Index 



Short sentences, 162-163. 

Should, 136. 

Simple sentence, 5. ■ 

Singular number, 40. 

Sit, 197. 

Spelling, 166. 

Strong verbs, 90-93. 

Subject, 4. 

Subjects for compositions, 208, 224. 

Subjunctive mood, 76, 130-132. 

Subordinate conjunctions, 109. 

Superlative degree — see Comparison. 

Superscription of letters, 173, 175. 

Syllabic division, 166, 184. 

Tense — see Present, Past, etc. 
The, article, 66 ; the, adverb, 66-67. 
Theme, 208, 209 ; of paragraph, 209. 



There, preparatory, 12. 

Titles, 174, 179, 180 ; of compositions, 

166; of books, etc., 199. 
Topic sentence, 213, 217. 
Transitive verbs, 71, 73. 

Verb phrases, 134. 
Verbal nouns, 81, 140, 145. 
Verbs, 13, 71. 
Voice, 74. 

Weak verbs, 93-96. 
What, 55, 58. 
Will, 96, 98, 139, 188. 
Would, 136. 

Ye and you, 53. 
Yes and no, 101. 



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